Never set in stone-The Lionhearted's Golden Age
by Xx Elemental Angel xX
Summary: The prophesised Sons of Adam and Daughters of Eve have taken their places. The Golden Age has begun, but the Pevensies reign isn't as peaceful as they'd hoped. After their princess disappears, many secrets hiding in the dark are unveiled in the light, and where hearts and loyalties lie. Darkness lies within surprise, and nothing is ever as straightforward as it appears to be...
1. Prologue

**A/N Aaaaaand…I'm back! Didja miss me? Anyways, this is the sequel to my previous story 'Two Kings Two Queens and a Guardian,' which had currently over two hundred reviews! If you have started reading this, I strongly suggest you read that first (yeah, the first few chapters are pretty crap, but after that, it gets better) So here we go with The Lionhearted Guardian-The Golden age. Enjoy!**

The ancient scriptures prophecies have been fulfilled. The four Pevensie children and their Guardian are now reigning over Narnia from Cair Paravel, the castle with the four thrones. Well, now it is the castle with the five thrones, but many keep forgetting about the fifth one. But Aslan has told the Guardian that she must do something, but what is it?

Nobody knows what she must do, but a mysterious trail of events and a gang full of Calormene and Telmarine rebels are putting Narnia on high alert. The rebels sail the sea on their mighty ships, and their leader is a man known as Fernando, the strongest and most feared man ever to sail the seas of Narnia and its surrounding countries. He has faced many battles, and his ship, the Creciente Esperanza, is legendary. But what happens when his prodigy is taken by Narnians and brought before the kings and queens? And what do they have to do with Rachel's disappearance? One thing is certain: this is only the beginning of the adventure.

"_I always knew I would come back here one day. After two years at sea and being able to escape any government, any source of a higher authority, it is a welcome sight. My fellow pirates and I-sorry-freedom fighters have started an uprising in Calormen and Telmar due to the fact that the taxes they have to pay are insane, men are being forced to join the army and a war, unknown to any Archenlander or Narnian, is being planned to conquer these two countries. Half the world versus half the world…everything will end if Narnia and Archenland don't hear about this 'secret' war. However, when I say 'unknown to any Archenlander or Narnian' there is one exception. Me. And I intend to save my country._

_But now, I view my country from a dark, damp cell, locked in chains as if I were a criminal Well, I am interpreted as one, since I am a 'pirate' as such . Little do the Narnians know that I could be their saviour."_

Challenges of every kind lie ahead in this tale, and not just of war. For darkness lies in the most unlikely of places…or maybe even…people?

_War is on the horizon,_

_Darkness is rising,_

_An old enemy returns,_

_And new ones are made,_

_Betrayal and deceit litter this story's path,_

_Hate becomes love,_

_And love becomes hate,_

_A new woman in the High King's life,_

_A new man in hers,_

_Love becomes the deadliest weapon._

_But the truth always prevails,_

_In love and in life_

_Can't life just be normal for a while?_

A/N And now we begin…and on my birthday too! I thought it would be nice to put this up on my birthday so that it had the same anniversary as me! But don't expect updates to be quick because school is like, taking over my life lol. So review and thanks for reading!

Xx Elemental Angel xX


	2. Chapter 1 The life of a Princess

**A/N Sorry for the wait everyone, but I've had a lot to do with GCSE's and all that. It's no picnic! But it's gonna be worth it in the end, I know it! Anyway, I haven't abandoned this story, although a couple of hiatus' will probably crop up from time to time, so big sorry's for that! So here's the first proper chapter of 'The Lionhearted Guardian; The Golden Age.'I hope you guys like it! On with the show!**

**Chapter One - The life of a Princess**

Hi, my name's Princess Rachel Elfin the Lionhearted of the mystical Caldron Pool, (but you can call me Rachel. Or Rach, I don't mind) Guardian of the Pevensies, who are the Kings and Queens of Narnia, Enchantress and capable of sleeping until four in the afternoon. I was short, had curly black hair that went a little bit past my shoulders and I had hazel eyes. I was trained in martial arts, sword fighting, archery and throwing daggers, although I preferred my daggers and sword.

My story begins in the Twenty-First century. I grew up there and was a little bit of a social reject because my grandmother and I were Enchantresses, although she was better than me. When I was thirteen, I came out of school and got hit by a car, which sent me in to Narnia. I met the Pevensies and discovered that I was their Guardian, a figure that is always female and descended from one bloodline. My mother was the previous Guardian and she lived in Narnia until Jadis of Charn invaded it and eventually faced my mother in a duel. My mum was about to be killed when magic from all the previous Guardians gave her have a choice; she could go to the late Twentieth century, have a husband and a little girl, or perish in Narnia. She decided to leave Narnia, but after ten years Jadis found my mother and killed her.

My dad was in the army and was away a lot, so I lived with my aunt and uncle when my mother 'disappeared' (that's what I thought had happened). Anyway, when I entered Narnia, I trained with my weapons for two months in the lead up to the Battle of Beruna. Friendships were made and, to my misfortune, the two Pevensie brothers 'like liked' me. I never have had a boyfriend or anything close to it, and I didn't want one, so now we were more like family. Throughout my time in Narnia, I had these visions or something of a white room and nightmares consisting of a man killing the Pevensies. I received gifts from Father Christmas (which included a ring from Queen Helen, a sword and shield and daggers) and was given a Talking Horse which I named Tia. Then, one night, Jadis' henchmen held the female Pevensies ransom and I had to go to her castle.

When I was in her castle, I found out that she was planning to kill Aslan and I also met a Gryphon named Iron Feather, who was rescued by my mother one hundred years ago. Both of us were taken to the top of her melting fortress, and Jadis whipped my back and scratched me with her nails. She was going to turn me to stone, but Ronny (Iron Feather) saved me, although I was hit by her wand and the statue process was slower. Aslan 'de-statued' me and he knew he was going to die for Edmund. He told me not to tell anyone, and so he died at the Stone Table.

We prepared for war and set off to Beruna and silence fell over the army. We arrived and got into position before the Witch's army arrived. We swallowed lumps in our throats when we saw the size of it. The battle got underway, and I engaged in battle with the Witch. Neither of us were winning, so the Witch cheated and the man who had plagued my nightmares killed me (he was real!). I was sent back to the Twenty-First century, learned that my dad had been shot and killed, my grandmother had been sent here by Aslan a long time ago and I smashed a vase that would take us both back to the places we were needed most (Polly Plummer was my granny, so she was sent back to the time that she was meant to live in). I came back to life, found the Pevensies and the man who was in my nightmares (his name was Deimos) and it was a good versus evil battle. It turns out that he had dark magic within him, and so his magic almost killed us.

However, the Pevensies also had magic in them, and we combined our power to destroy him. Then the preparations for the coronation (which I almost missed) and then lived happily ever after. The End!

But…it can't be the end if I'm telling you this story, could it? Well, it might be, because I am _very_ late for my morning appointment with Queen Susan! And when I mean late, I mean that I'm extremely late. Did I mention that I was late?

"Stupid alarm bird, not waking me up on time. Grr, and all because I threw a stone at it one morning because I wanted it to shut up. Grudge much!" I thought to myself as I almost ran down the corridor of Cair Paravel, my silver cape billowing out behind me and my hastily put on green dress almost tripping me up. I walked into the Great Hall, where Susan Pevensie was waiting, with a team of decorators dotted around the room.

"Queen Susan the Gentle…well, now we can put that title to the test." I thought to myself.

"Where have you been? You were meant to be down here fifteen minutes ago!" she said, putting her hands on her hips and giving me a look that could make boulders cry.

"Hi, Su," I said shakily, chuckling nervously, "lovely morning, isn't it?"

**The Lionhearted Guardian – The Golden Age**

"I'll let you off this once, but next time, you'll be in trouble," she said, turning away from me and talking to the head decorator, a brown Satyr.

"We'll put the musicians in that corner and leave all this space in the middle free for dancing," she told the satyr.

"Yes your highness," he said before bowing and moving away.

"Su, I'm really sorry about being late, but that flippin' alarm bird has a sort of-"

"Grudge against you? You said the same thing at breakfast yesterday," she answered.

"And it seems to still have it against me…" I muttered.

"Anyway Rachel, the ball tomorrow night has to go smoothly because it's the first time that we have had the King of Telmar in Narnia."

I groaned. First of all, I hated balls, and second of all, some rich prince dude would try to 'chat you up.' Unfortunately for me, they were all the ones that everybody else had rejected and I always had to make up some excuse to get away from them. The one I used the most was 'I have to use the bathroom. Please excuse me," or "I'm already being courted. Sorry."

However. if they were persistent I would say, "I'm married," or something along the lines of that. However, there were those major creeps that would follow me everywhere: one of them followed me into the bathroom! In that case I would say, "Yeah, in your dreams and my nightmares!" or, "I'm not desperate mate. Now why don't you go down to the stables and try your pathetic flirting on one of them? You might just get a lick on the nose from one of them, if you're lucky."

"Now Rachel, come on, we have to find someone to court you!"

"Su, I'm, not even that age yet! Why not try Ed, he's older than me and he needs more help in the courting area."

"Oh, he'll have no problem in courting requests," she said, rolling her eyes.

"It's getting to accept them that's the problem!" I finished for her. We both smiled at each other and giggled, which is something that we hadn't done in a long time. It was about one and a half years into our reign, and Ed's birthday was a few days before the anniversary of our coronation, which no doubt will include lots of parties and touring around the country etcetera…

'Well, at least we got the first one over with,' I thought to myself, 'hopefully the celebrations will be a little less stressful and time-consuming this year.'

The Narnian year was pretty similar to ours. There were twelve months, three-hundred and sixty-five days a year, leap years, and the names of the months were almost the same (I just called them by the ones I knew instead of the Narnian ones) Ed's birthday was the fifth of August and mine was the twenty-seventh of May, meaning he was almost always two years older than me.

"But Su, in a few months, won't you have courting requests pouring in?" I asked her.

"Well, I don't think they would be pouring in…" she replied, blushing.

"Are you kidding? You're the most beautiful woman in Narnia, and maybe even the world!"

She laughed a little bit, "What about you Rach? I think you may have a few admirers."

I opened my mouth and pointed my index finger towards it, making retching sounds, "They can jolly well clear off! I have no interest in courting, at least for a few years."

"Hmm, but I think you might make an exception," she said, looking over towards her brothers who were passing through the Great Hall at the moment and obviously in deep conversation. I went a violent shade of red.

"Su that's foul play!" I exclaimed, "besides, you know that I only see them as friends; brothers at the most. And when they're able to court, they won't look twice at me, Su. I'm dull compared to the ladies of Archenland and the Duchesses of Calormen."

"But they are shallow," she said to me quietly.

I put my hands over my chest, put on a shocked expression and gasped, "Susan Pevensie! I thought that you loved those people!"

She laughed a little bit, "Just because I'm friendly with them doesn't mean that they're ever so nice and loveable! May the Lion help both of my brothers if they have to court any of them!"

"Ah, but they'll have to! How else would they find a wife or something?" Susan almost chocked when I said this.

"A wife?" she asked me, "A _wife_? Ha ha Rach, very funny."

"I'm being serious! They're going to have to someday."

"They're going to have to be _very_ special women if my brothers want to marry them," she replied, "but if they don't marry quickly, the people are going to get ideas about you."

"Me? Why me?" I asked, my voice going up and octave.

"Because you're a princess. They are kings. Princesses marry kings. Could it be any clearer?"

"Ha! I think it's about as clear as mud! That ain't ever gonna happen!"

"Now Rachel, remember that we are royalty and we don't speak like that."

"Now Su, remember that we are royalty and we can do whatever we wanna do!"

"You see this is why you're Professor Thatch's least favourite student." I groaned at the sound of his name. Professor Thatch was a centaur, but Ed and I didn't call him Professor Thatch behind his back. We called him 'Smart-Ass' instead (get it? Centaur, horse, donkey, ass? Oh forget it) and he was our, well, Professor. He taught us manners, how to speak properly, posture, Narnian history bla bla bla…all those royal things that royals do. He was a good teacher, but boy, he was easy to dislike.

"Now talk this way, eat this way, _breathe _this way," I imitated him in a voice that was way too high.

"Rachel," Su said dangerously.

"Okay, okay!" I held my hands above my head.

"Just promise me that you'll _try_ and be a good student in his next class."

"Yes Mum," I replied, rolling my eyes. She gave me a glare that made me feel extremely uncomfortable. I looked at my wrist and pretended there was a watch there, "wow, is that the time? I'm late for my dress fitting. I'll see you later Su!" I said hastily, "oh and you're doing a wonderful job!" Flowers on stands were being put into place all around the foyer, front door, gate, some corridors close to the Great Hall and the Great Hall itself. I ran off to the dressmakers, had a few alterations made to my dress and then brought it and my shoes into my room for tonight. The dressmaker had offered to take it herself, but I needed to go there anyway.

I opened the door to my room and saw that it had been cleaned, "Oh yay!" I thought to myself, "They finally got that chocolate stain out of the carpet." One of them had also left out my armour for this afternoon. I smiled and took my dress off, breathed a sigh of relief as I took off my corset and put a white sleeveless top and a pair of leggings on over my undergarments (thankfully, the Narnians didn't have underwear that could qualify as a parachute). I put my new Narnian armour on, since I had grown out of the one that I fought in in the Battle of Beruna.

There was a chainmail dress that came a few inches up past my ankles, chainmail trousers underneath just in case I got really warm or couldn't be bothered wearing it anymore, the tunic was the traditional Narnian style (red background, golden lion) and it was in a corset fashion, covering my torso and just up past my chest . My shoulders, neck and arms were covered in chainmail. I never wore my helmet unless we were giving a demonstration or going to war, which hadn't happened yet. Unlike the rest of my armour (excluding my boots, bracers, belt and gloves) it still fit me.

I drove the people who made my armour crazy, because although I was a perfectly average size ten-to-twelve (sometimes an eight-to-ten) they had to do some resizing in the chainmail for my arms because my wrists were very small, and it took forever to get the sizing perfect for that area.

Anyway, I put a thick pair of socks on my feet and slipped my old boots on. I put my weapons belt around my waist, put Nitidae in her sheath and made counted my daggers. I was set to go, and a good thing too, because as soon as I stood up, Ed knocked on my door. I opened the door and went out.

"Ready?" he asked me.

"Yep! Let's go. Are we walking or are we taking the Gryphon?"

"Let's walk today. I need to get as much fresh air as I can and Ronny was complaining about your whistle." My whistle had been implanted into my necklace a few months ago, and when I blew into it, it let out a high-pitched noise that only Ronny could hear. He would come to where I was within minutes of blowing it. I usually blew it when I needed to get somewhere quickly, but other times I just wanted to talk to him. Myself and Ed were walking through the corridors of Cair Paravel, greeting servants as we went.

"Why do you need fresh air?" I asked him.

He shook his head, "Pete is trying to teach me all about these foreign affairs and things like that. It's so boring! How do you put up with it?"

"I don't have much of a choice Ed," I said grinning, "besides, if I didn't help him out, we'd never see him out of his office. That guy's got issues!" We both laughed lightly. Ed knew I was only joking around, so it was easy to talk to him about his siblings. I remember what he said to me once about his family, _"I like having you around Ray. If you weren't I'd take all my anger out on everyone else."_

"_You do that already," I replied. He pushed me slightly._

"_Not all the time," he smiled._

"Is this armour really necessary?" I asked Ed when we

"You'll only have to wear it for today because we're doing some sparring."

"Sparring? Fantastic! Nitidae has been begging me to take her out of her sheath, haven't you?" I said to my sword. We had walked out of the castle grounds and were making our way down a steep flight of stairs down towards the beach; our usual route. Most of the time, we walked across the Mermaid Cove, (the name of the beach) up through a small patch of woodland, walked across a few fields and arrived at Aslan's Camp. Well, it wasn't called that anymore, but it was the same place that hundreds of tents had been set up over a year ago in preparation to fight Jadis, the White Witch. A few tents remained, such as mine, the Pevensies and Aslan's. It was now used as an army training ground, where Ed, sometimes Pete and I would come and spar and, well, train the army. Ed and Pete did the talking most of the time, but I didn't just stand there and look pretty; I spoke to my regiment.

You're probably thinking 'What is she going on about?' so I'll explain. When we were made royalty, we were given our own section of the army. Pete's regiment consists of the strongest and the fastest; the best of the best no matter what they wielded, and were always on the front line. Ed's consisted of the most talented swordsmen, and when I say talented, I really mean it! Even though I could fight well with Nitidae, I was a rookie compared to them. Su's were the archers, and they could hit an acorn on a tree from two hundred paces, but some of them could hit a flower at Cair Paravel from Aslan's camp. Yeah, I know, it's absolutely insane! Lucy's regiment contained the healers and some of the 'newbies,' the ones with less experience or they had just joined the army. When they were good enough, they went to other regiments, aiming for the regiment that contained the best of their skills (young swordsmen would be aiming for Ed's, archers of Su's).

Lu had only been able to train weapon-wielders for a few months ago. She had asked Pete, and after weeks of debate, he allowed her to take the newbies under her wing. To the soldiers, her regiment was the 'playground', the 'training-before-training' regiment. But it wasn't in a nasty way, in fact it was a compliment to some of those who were in Lu's battalion, because they were just happy that they were involved in the army. The healers were incredible, but sometimes if somebody was severely injured, in battle or a serious accident, they couldn't save them; that responsibility lay with the Valiant Queen and her Fireflower juice alone.

Mine was the regiment in which every soldier was hand-picked for two qualities, and they were bravery and dedication; it didn't matter what weapon they specialized in, just as long as they had these characteristics. They were good at wielding their weapons, and it had about two thousand soldiers in it. We all had about two thousand in our regiments, but Pete's was obviously the biggest because his soldiers went in first. If another war did come around, his soldiers would go first, then Ed's, then mine and lastly Lucy's (with Su's on the mountains and if there weren't any then her battalion and mine would join together, meaning all the archers would go to the back of the army).

Anyway, I usually walked around the members of my battalion, watching them train and even joining in when I wanted to. It was late November, and many of the trees had lost their leaves. Autumn was my favourite season because I loved the way that Narnia seemed to catch fire, and the mountains looked like waves of flames. I could feel the temperature dropping everyday, and winter was fast approaching. Some of the Narnians were afraid of winter, but who could blame them? They had once been entrapped within it for one hundred years.

"Princess Rachel!" a voice said. I turned around and saw that it was Ed, "come and spar with me. Some of the soldiers don't seem to know what to do in a sparring session." I rolled my eyes and followed him. Most of the army knew what they were doing, but a few didn't know the difference between an arrow and a spear.

I took out my sword and faced Ed. He moved first and hit my sword gently, as if he was teasing me. A playful smirk crossed his face as I thrust my sword towards him. He captured it between his elbow and body before raising his foot to kick me. I spun out of the way and left my sword behind and he threw it away. He quickly moved his sword towards me and I ducked, sticking my foot out and spinning around to try and trip him up, but he jumped out of the way. I stood up and tried to figure out what he might do next, but once again he quickly moved his sword towards me and I had to react at lightning speed.

Ed was a much better swordsman than I was, and I don't think I've ever beaten him. I put both of my arms up so that my right fist was in line with my left elbow and the same went for my left fist and right elbow. He hit my bracers with a large clang and I went into a horse stance and went to kick his face, but he caught it in between his elbow and with his left hand he grabbed my leg in a vice-like grip. A cheeky grin was on his face as he went to 'finish the battle' which really meant he had to get me on my back, on the ground and put his sword to my neck. Trying not to let him see, I went to my dagger belt and pulled one of them out. He was about to push me down as he was bringing his sword to my neck. Before it could touch it though, I put the dagger to his and wiggled my eyebrows for a second. He let go of my leg and I slipped my dagger back into my belt, turning around, but I felt something push me from behind and knock me to the ground. Before I could do anything, I heard someone say 'dead' and I felt cold metal on my jugular. I sighed in defeat and pushed the sword away from me before standing up.

"I'm gonna get you one day Pevensie," I said, pointing at him menacingly. He just smiled back at me.

"Alright everybody, I hope that you've learnt something today, I know that Princess Rachel has."

"I've learned that you should never turn your back on a Pevensie because it might come back to bite you," I gave him a fake smile which he returned with a small, sly curling of his lip.

"And I've learned that the Princess might live up to her nickname in a minute. Dismissed!" He said. My nickname was 'The Warrior Princess' or, 'The Violent Princess.' Please don't ask how I got it.

Everybody left and I looked at him mischievously, "You'd better start running!" I took off after him and chased him around at least half of the camp, ignoring the looks we got. I mean, come on! We're only fourteen and sixteen! We may be royalty, but that doesn't mean that we should act a decade older than we are! Besides, the only people that do are Pete and Su; it's like the think that they rule the country by themselves or something!

I chased Ed around a tent , but as I did, someone grabbed me and hoisted me over their shoulder in a fireman's lift, "Ed! Put me down right now!" I cried, thumping his back. It didn't seem to hurt him though, as he did nothing to stop me hitting him. Plus, he was laughing!

"How can you lift me? Have you been working out? And when did you get so tall? Stop growing! Let me catch up!" He kept walking, into the forest and after a while I could hear running water. My eyes widened in horror, "Edmund don't you dare."

"Okay. Although, you did say you wanted me to put you down, didn't you?"

"Um…no! I didn't say a thing!"

"Too late," he said whilst dropping me into freezing cold water. The water swirled around me and went up my nose, caused me to choke underwater. My feet found the bottom of the river and I pushed myself off it and I came to the surface, only to find out that the water was only waist deep. Ed was roaring with laughter and I thought to myself 'If he had so much fun when I was chucked in, I wonder how much fun he would have if he was in the water?' so I did a 'good' thing and pulled him in as well. He sank to the bottom and then after a few seconds he came back up, coughing and spluttering. He wiped his eyes and looked at me, staring at me evilly as I tried not to burst out laughing. I let out a giggle and he dunked my head under the water, causing me to choke and cough when I broke the surface again. I hit my chest to try and stop and Ed started hitting my back; preventing me from coughing any more but definitely giving me bruises.

"Ed-you-are-starting-to-break-my-spine!" I said in between hits.

"Oh, sorry," he said. I splashed him a little bit with water and laughed feebly before getting out of the river and wringing my hair out.

"Let's just get back to camp before I find a nice pile of centaur dung and accidently make you fall into it."

He chuckled a little bit, "You know that if Pete found out that we were acting like this he would blow up!"

"I'd pay to see that. But I have been thinking for a while now…maybe we should take our responsibilities more seriously?"

Ed burst out laughing, "No! Why should we?"

"Well, you are a king and I'm a princess."

"But we only grow up once. Let's enjoy it while we can!"

"But I shouldn't be talking to you like we are of equal status."

"Stuff the titles! Nobody cares Ray, except Professor Thatch."

"Are you sure that we can talk like we're equals?"

"What's gotten into you Ray? We've acted like this ever since we were given our crowns. Why are you asking these questions now?"

"I-I don't know. Never mind. Hey, what time is it?" I added hastily, trying to change the subject. The truth is, I've been worrying lately about talking really casually around the Pevensies because if somebody ever found out, I'd face loads of criticism and…other things.

Ed looked at our shadows and thought for a few seconds, "Hmm, about a quarter to four?"

"Oh crap!" I exclaimed. I ran back to the camp (which is hard when you've got ten kilogrammes of armour on you) with Ed hot on my heels. I ran into my tent (the one that had been my sleeping quarters before the Battle of Beruna), took my armour off as quickly as humanly possible and slipped on a dark pink dress and a pair of pumps. I have never grown to like the colour, but when I'm really late, anything will do.

I flew put of the tent, my hair a crazy bush behind me, and met up with Lu who was sitting on top of one of the stable horses called Laure; a dappled grey mare. I could see a familiar shiny black coat of an animal behind her.

"Sorry I'm late Lu," I said apologetically.

She beamed at me, "That's alright Rachel. We're not doing anything important today."

"That's good. If we had been, it would have been Ed's fault because he almost drowned me."

Lucy looked shocked, "He what?"

"He didn't really; he just chucked me in the river, no harm done." I climbed on to Tia's back and we set off, deep into the forest where the light was having difficulty getting through the trees. Today we were visiting a small village belonging to some fauns and dryads, so all we had to do was talk to them. Hopefully, today they wouldn't make us dance. I cannot dance! Just ask any of the people who I've danced with: I almost broke someone's foot once!

* * *

><p>It was almost nightfall before we returned to Cair, and boy, was I hungry!<p>

"Food, food, foodie, food, food, food!" I chanted on our way to the Dining Hall. I burst into the Hall, causing the other Pevensies to look at me with their forks half way to their mouths, "Hola mis amigos locos!" I called out.

"Hola," they replied. I always said this to them at dinner or at breakfast. Plus, due to the fact that I don't pay attention in class, it was practically the only Spanish phrase I knew; despite the fact that I had studied Spanish for two years back in…where was it? Never mind. Spanish and the Telmarine language were the same, except I had to call it Telmarine in front of other people because they didn't know where Spain was. In fact, I don't know where it is anymore!

I looked around the table, and saw Ed reading a book while he ate his dinner, clearly engrossed by its pages. Su had a mirror beside her plate and she looked into it frequently, fixing her hair or checking if she had any food around her mouth. Lu sat down on a chair on the right-hand side of the table beside Su, and I went to the left and sat beside Ed. The chair at the head of the table was empty and I frowned. I let out a frustrated groan and stood up, grabbed a large silver tray and put two plates on it.

"That boy…doesn't know what's good for him…working all day…no fresh air!" I grumbled.

"Taking Pete's food up to him again?" Su asked, rolling her eyes.

"Have _you_ seen him out of his office all day?" I said. She shook her head, "Didn't think so. I 'll see you guys later…or maybe tomorrow depending on how things go." I put some cutlery and two goblets on the tray and lifted it up, brining it towards a door on the far right-hand side of the hall. I used my back to push it open and I arrived in the kitchen, walking straight towards the head chef and gently nudging him with my elbow.

"Tonight we have chicken, potatoes, carrots, soup and bread. Raul will give you the food and your refreshments and I will get some others to help you take the food upstairs."

I nodded and took the tray over to Raul; a Satyr. He gave me two plates of food and I started to head towards Pete's room, with two other servants in my wake.

* * *

><p>I made my way very carefully upstairs and towards Pete's room. When we reached his door, the servants placed the rest of our meal on the tray, knocked the door, waited for Pete's usual monotone 'Enter,' and opened it for me. I walked with extreme caution as I did not want the tray to tip; the last time I did that it took a month for the mashed parsnip to finally come out of the carpet.<p>

"Room service," I chimed. Pete looked up at me from his work, the rings under his eyes clearly evident and the tiredness showing through his posture. He gave me a weak smile as I placed the tray in front of him and took my small chair beside his large, armed one. He continued to scrawl across the parchment in front of him before I cleared my throat. He turned and looked at me, "Are you going to eat the food or not? Quickly, the salad's getting cold."

"But I've got to-"

"Uh uh uh!" I said with my voice rising with each sound. I pointed at the food, "Eat. Food. Now."

He reluctantly put his quill down and picked up a piece of bread, dipping it into his soup and taking a swig of his wine. I picked up my own goblet and took a drink of water, taking frequent glances at him to make sure his hand was edging towards his quills.

"…and then, Ed chucked me in the river!" I said, sitting cross-legged on his desk like I always did when I got bored in his office. He let out a chuckle and I ripped up another piece of bread and put it into the now almost-cold soup.

"It sounds like you had an interesting day," he said.

I covered my mouth as I yawned, "More like exhausting. Helping you lot is no picnic; especially you."

"Why am I the hardest?"

"Because you are stuck in your office all day. When was the last time you went out for a walk?"

"Uh…"

"Exactly."

"But I've been really busy lately and-"

"Archenland, Telmar and Calormen won't disappear overnight. They can wait for a stupid piece of parchment: plus, they won't get sick. You, however, will if you don't eat, or get fresh air, or go to bed at four in the morning and wake up two hours later!"

He ran his hands through his hair, "I know that you're right Rach, but I feel like I'm ruling this country on my own and I'm taking all the strain on myself."

"Ruling by yourself? Now that is a good joke Pete," I yawned again, "honestly, I've never met a bigger workaholic than you. Live a little Pete! One day your going to come in here and work, and the it the next thing you know, it's been ten years since you last did something other than work." Another yawn escaped my mouth.

"Go lie down on the settee over there," Pete said, pointing to a large green sofa next to a bookshelf, "you're shattered."

I yawned again and rubbed my face, "Well, maybe I could rest my eyes for five minutes. But for only five minutes! Wake me up if I actually fall asleep Pete. And no more working!"

He nodded at me as I collapsed on the sofa. I closed my eyes and started to drift into unconsciousness. Today was my normal routine; get up, help Su if she needed it, go with Ed and train, go with Lu and talk to the people and then help Pete out. However, today it like i had done four days work in one.

"Hey Rach, it's snowing," Pete said. I nodded sleepily and muttered, "Uh huh." And I accidently fell to sleep, dreaming of fields filled with snow and snowflakes cascading silently from the sky, spinning and twirling elegantly around me.

**A/N I hope that was an okay first chapter, and there'll be lots more to come! Let's try and beat the amount of reviews we got for Two Kings Two Queens and a Guardian over the course of this story! Reviews please, and read on wonderful people! **

**Xx Elemental Angel xX**


	3. Chapter 2 Snow and Telmarines

**A/N Hey guys! How have ya all been? What did you get up to at Halloween? I had a great time! Anyway, I'm a little late updating because of school and all that, but also I only got four reviews for the last chapter. Thank you all who did review, but the more reviews I get, the more likely I am to update. I'm also going to put a notice on my old story so that people can see this one and it will get more publicity as such. Anyway, Please, please PLEEEEAAAASSSSEEEEE review this chapter, and I hope that you enjoy this chapter-it certainly has more action! **

**Princess emma of Narnia- Now that would be telling wouldn't it? Tee hee!**

**Exclamation mark and Mr Blobby's Cheesecake- Awww! Thank you guys!**

**Milk'n'CookiesBookWorm- Yeah you should check your emails more often! *glares but then grins widely* I know! GCSE's are sooooo stressful! And aww! You loved that chappie…hehe! Love ya chicka!**

**On with the show!**

**Chapter Two- Snow and Telmarines**

I felt myself waking up from a long sleep. I opened my eyes and rubbed them sleepily, before stretching and yawning loudly. Then I had quite a shock, as I wasn't in my bedroom, but in Pete's office. I looked over to his desk and saw that the chair behind it had been vacated, and I smiled to myself, knowing that he had listened to me and gotten a good night's sleep. I know that it wasn't much of a reason to feel happy about, but at least he might be looking and feeling better today than he had been in a while.

He must have put a fur blanket over me before he went, and boy, was I glad of it! His usually warm office was surprisingly cold, and when I looked out of the window, I knew why. I smiled and threw the blanket off me, bursting out of his office and running towards my bedroom so I could get my winter clothes on. I picked out my cosiest coat (with fur on the inside and a deep blue felt-like material on the outside) my knee-high boots (with fur once again)a grey dress to go underneath my coat, a pair of gloves and a hat. By the time I had gotten myself ready for the day, it was almost nine o'clock.

I ran downstairs to the dining hall and the Pevensies were there, eating their breakfast. Without their winter coats on.

"Come on guys, let's go!" I aid excitedly, clapping my hands together, "eat up! There's fresh snow to be played in!"

"Since when were you excited about snow?" Su asked.

"Since now! What is there not to like about it?"

The Pevensies all looked at each other. Pete spoke first, "Well…the last time Narnia had snow was more than a year ago, and you know what that was about."

My face fell a little. Narnia had been encased in an enchanted winter for one hundred years, and the spell had only been broken last year. When we all became rulers, this was one of the issues that everybody was concerned about. People would be scared of the snow, and some might even think that the White Witch had returned.

"But shouldn't we be examples for them? If we go out in the snow, then maybe people wouldn't be as scared of it as they were," Lucy said. Pete boggled at her.

"Lu…that is a very good idea," he said with surprise in his voice. I think that Pete still views her as the little girl that had received her presents from Father Christmas instead of a queen. Maybe he doesn't want her to grow up quickly like he had, I mean, she is the only one who was still relatively innocent. She has never killed, whereas the rest of us have. Perhaps she is starting to get older, and become wiser with it. Not many people know that she actually is very intelligent and has ideas to make Narnia better; I am one of those people.

"Well then let's go! I need to get you back for throwing me in the river," I said, pointing at Ed. The left corner of his mouth curled into a sneaky smile.

"You're on."

I laughed joyfully as I ran out into the of the castle courtyard and into a snow-covered field, the white powder jumping up and hitting me as I moved. Within seconds I was covered in it, mainly because Pete had pushed me over and into a snow drift. The snow was very deep, about two feet high, so I didn't really hurt myself. But it was an unpleasant feeling when some of the snow was being shoved down my back and melting on my skin. I turned around to see who had done it, and a smirking Lucy was standing there. My face contorted into one of shock before I ran at her, which is quite a feat when you're covered in fur. I grabbed some snow and rubbed it in her face before pushing her over. She wasn't angry, or even close to it because she was lying in the snow laughing her head off.

I made another snowball and aimed at Ed, but Su showed up at the wrong time and I accidently hit her instead. She threw one at me, which was really unexpected because it was really out of character for her. In fact, I was surprised that she was even out in the snow with us. Maybe it's because of what Lu said, but either way it was nice to see her being immature, even for a little while.

While I was throwing snow at Su, I was hit on the back of the head by a really hard snow ball. There was only person that could throw that hard, and that was the golden-haired king, "Oh you are _so_ gonna get it!"

He tried to run away, but adrenaline was pumping around my body and I was a little bit faster. I had never done one before, but I rugby tackled him and we both fell to the ground.

"Ow! Pete, you're lying on my arm!" I almost shouted at him.

"Really? I honestly thought it was a branch or something…" he said, rolling off my arm and letting the blood pump around it again. I rubbed my wrist and stood up before Pete grabbed my ankle and pulled me down. For the second time that day, I ended up face first in snow.

"Ha ha, very funny Pete," I said, brushing myself off and standing up, kicking some snow at him while he lay on the ground.

"I am absolutely hilarious aren't I?"

"If you weren't a king then you'd make a great court jester," I rolled my eyes.

"I would wouldn't I?"

"Cocky much?" I said with a small laugh in my voice.

"Hey Rachie!" Lu called, "we're making snow angels!"

"I'll be over in a minute!" I said. I ran over and fell back on the snow beside Lu and made, well, an angel, before I just lay in it and looked up at the clouds. I had forgotten how draining it was when you run around in snow for so long, so I would definitely sleep well tonight. Something clicked in my mind. Tonight! Tonight was the Telmarine ball! I was about to yell over to Su about it when I was hoisted into the air and put over someone's shoulder.

"Edmund!" I said, knowing what would happen to me if I didn't get off his shoulder soon because of the river incident.

"Yes?"

"Uh…" I said, picking my words carefully. But before I could, he said 'Too late' and his grip loosened on me. I grabbed onto his coat in a desperate attempt to keep myself from slipping. I heard him grunt in surprise and we both tumbled down, my body landing on his.

"Well…this is awkward," a little voice in my mind said.

"Rach…I can't breathe!" he gasped.

"Gee, you really know how to charm a girl don't you? Make her feel like a baby elephant; that's the way to her heart!" I said sarcastically.

"You weigh as much as one."

"Oh stop it, you're making me blush!" I said dramatically. He laughed loudly.

"Rachel! We need to start getting ready for the ball tonight!" Su shouted.

"Okay! I'll be over in a minute!" I yelled back. I was a little bit glad that we were going in because I couldn't feel my fingers even though I was wearing thick gloves, "see you later then, Eddie."

"Don't call me that!" he said, sounding slightly angry.

"Alright, alright! I won't call you Eddie again unless you're really annoying me. Deal?" He nodded slightly before I turned and went back into the castle, where I was greeted by a very welcoming wave of heat.

"Ugh, Su do I _have_ to wear this?" I moaned.

"You should actually be thanking me because I took all the measurements, picked out the colours and design, the shoes, jewellery…"

"But seriously Su? Couldn't you make it look less than a fluffy monster? I'm not wearing this dress; it's wearing me!"

"Stop complaining Rachel; we've got to be down there in ten minutes, and you aren't half ready. Besides, this is a traditional Telmarine style dress, and everybody will be wearing something like this."

"What about you? What are you wearing?"

"I'm wearing that," she said, pointing at a dress with puffed sleeves, a tiny bodice and a metal cage thing to go underneath the bottom part of the dress to make it look like one of Cair's bells. At least it was bigger than mine and pink; I actually liked the colour of mine.

The dress was almost the same as Su's except that the 'bell' wasn't as large, I didn't have to wear the monstrous wire contraption. Thank the Lion! It was light blue (my favourite colour) with awful looking feathers all over the 'bell.' I looked like a flipping bird! I also had to wear my crown on my head, where my hair had been put back into my traditional way, two braids on either side; however it was fastened with a heart-shaped clip at the back. It had been made by some of the mermaids out of some dark-coloured driftwood, and they had carved it ornately, with swirls winding around a cross shape.

It was my favourite clip because the insignia in the centre was my Mark, a mark that identified the magical energy in me that hadn't been seen in over a year. I haven't worried about it since the Battle of Beruna, because that was the last time I needed it greatly; I haven't even been able to do simple spells since then (not like I have needed to though).

"Are you sure? Is there no other option?" I moaned. Su sighed and then pointed to a traditional Narnian dress (floor length, slightly puffy sleeves to the elbow, tight bodice and lace-up back)

"You can wear that. I was going to wear it for another party next month, but I can get another one. Now Rach, hurry up please!"

"Thank-you Su!" I said gratefully.

I put the dress over my head, put on my jewellery, escaped with minimal make-up (I even let them go as far as putting on a thin line of eye-liner, just to make Su happy) and walked out of the door. I walked through it with ease, but it took Su at least five minutes to squeeze through it. It took everything I had not to laugh at her! We knocked on the door to the room where Lu was getting ready, went in and took her down to the Great Hall. Thankfully Lu got through the door without a problem, mainly because her dress wasn't as 'puffy' as ours. Her dress was a pastel green colour and she looked very pretty, but I wasn't exactly paying attention to her right now; it was the Prince of Telmar.

Boy, did he look like he could get any girl he wanted! His posture, his expression…it just emanated pompousness and a higher-than-thou attitude! In all fairness, he wasn't bad looking and I would rate him a six or seven. I'm not one to judge a book by its cover, but I felt kind of sick when I looked at him.

'Oh stop making your opinion through first impressions! He could be a nice guy," the voice of reason said in my head. I decided to go with the voice of reason, but if he made any sort of move, a toe out of line, no-one except Aslan could stop me from punchi-I mean, stamping on his foot. And I would feel no shame in doing it.

The Prince of Telmar had tanned skin, long black hair and dark eyes, like most of the Telmarines. He looked like he was about Pete's age and was wearing the traditional dress robes of Telmar. In other words, he looked like a genie. They were dark red with black details, and a picture of a black crow outlined in yellow was on the left side of his chest. His father was in black and yellow robes and looked like an older version of his son, except he had a huge golden crown on his head, a beard and quite a big stomach.

Just as we were coming towards the members of the Telmarine royal family, Pete and Ed emerged from a corridor on the left side of the Great Hall's door. I snorted with laughter, but turned it into a coughing fit; they were dressed exactly like the Prince of Telmar except Pete was in dressed in red with gold details and Ed was dressed in the same colours, only the other way around.

"Welcome to Narnia, King Gustavo" Pete said, bowing to the King.

He mimicked the motion, "It is a great honour to be here, High King Peter," he said in a thick Telmarine accent.

"Let me introduce you to my family."

"Ah, it is no problem, for I already know their names. We have Queen Susan, who is living up to her reputation as one of the most beautiful women in this world," Su blushed a little bit, "and then we have King Edmund, and I certainly do not hope to engage in a battle of the swords with you if the stories are true."

"No, you wouldn't," Ed replied, in a tone that surprised me a tiny bit; his voice sounded a little bit cold.

The Telmarine king didn't seem to pick up on his tone and continued, "and now we have Queen Lucy. A mindless man would say that you would not intimidate them in battle, but I think that you would," he said, smiling at her. Lu, of course, beamed back at him, and before I could stop myself, I laughed a little bit and said, "Yes, Lu is very scary!" I said, and despite my laugh, I meant it.

The Telmarine King looked at me, "And you are?" he said in a voice that sounded like I was unimportant.

"Uh…" I said, a little bit puzzled. Sure, I wasn't very important, but I was a princess. Without my crown, do I not look like a princess? Honestly, being a princess sucks sometimes.

"She is Princess Rachel, King Gustavo. She fought on my right-hand side in the Battle of Beruna and she also helped to destroy Deimos with us," Pete said. I looked at him and he was very calm except for the fact that his eyes had just bulged for a split second when Pete was speaking.

I felt something slip onto my head and realised that it was my crown. I mustn't have been paying attention to anything else which seemed to happen quite a lot. I turned and saw Ed with an expressionless face, but I knew he didn't like them already. He has gotten into the habit of making up his mind about people in the first five minutes of meeting them lately, and Su doesn't like it.

"Deimos?" the King asked, sounding somewhat surprised before looking at me again. He regained his composure before speaking again, "my apologies Princess. I did not know that it was you, and that you have helped the Pevensies to do…extraordinary things."

My raised eyebrows became narrowed eyes, "Well, sometimes appearances can be deceiving. Or…they can be bang on target," my gaze switched to the Prince of Telmar, who looked like he had gotten his favourite toy taken away from him, or he had smelled a really bad smell. This was weird, because a really strange scent was coming from behind me…

"Ah, Isabella my sweet!" the King exclaimed. A dark eyed, dark haired woman was approaching us. She was pretty, but not like Su. She was also wearing a traditional Telmarine dress.

"King Peter, let me introduce you to my family. I am King Gustavo the Second and this is my beautiful wife, Isabella," he looked lovingly at her as she approached his side, "and this is my son, Prince Tristan."

"It is lovely to meet you," Su said, curtseying to the Telmarine queen, who did the same.

"Why is she not wearing a Telmarine dress? Should we not all honour Telmarine traditions as it is the first time we have graced Narnia?"

I didn't turn my head at all as I flicked my eyes over to Ed, 'What a pain in the arse' I thought. I think Ed heard my thoughts as he rolled his eyes.

"I picked this Narnian style dress because I thought that if we wore Telmarine designs and she wore Narnian, it would represent the unity of our two countries," Su spoke up, speaking as if she were talking about the weather. Thank-you Susan Pevensie! If it had been me, speaking to her, I might have screamed it right in her face…not the best way to make a first impression.

Isabella's eyes narrowed at me, "Well, I would have preferred that she had worn the Telmarine dress; they are so much nicer than Narnian ones."

"I think she looks gorgeous," said Lucy smiling innocently. Isabella's expression stayed the same before she returned to her husband's side.

I mouthed a word of thanks to the siblings when the Telmarines weren't looking, and they looked as if they were already starting to become stressed with the members of the Telmarine royal family. And it seemed as if_ I_ was their main target! What have I ever done to them? This is the first time I've met them for the love of the Mane! Also, to make matters worse, the night hadn't even started!

"Well, I think that our guests have been waiting long enough, haven't you?" Pete suggested.

"Yes, they have. Let us proceed," King Gustavo replied. Pete took Isabella's arm, Su took Gustavo's, Ed took mine and Tristan took Lucy's. Hold on a minute! Whoever we walked in with we had to dance with first, and there was no way in Narnia that I was going to let _him_ dance with someone I considered family. I looked at Ed and it was if we were communicating telepathically.

"Go," he whispered.

"Sorry Lu-_cy_, I seems like we have the wrong partners: Susan just told me." I had forgotten to call them by their full names when were in royal presence. Lu looked oddly relieved as she walked past me, whereas I was praying to Aslan that the prince would ignore me. I awkwardly slipped my arm through his, my body instantly becoming rigid. I tried to prevent our arms from touching, but it was almost impossible to do so. I barely breathed the whole time my arm was through his, and this would probably continue through to the dance. That dance felt like an eternity away, and his…smell to put it nicely, wasn't doing me any favours. It was going to take everything in me to not sprint away from him and skip with glee after the dance was over.

I heard the entire hall in front of the door go silent, and one of the members of Narnia's High Court (not the government, it's an elite team of our subjects and ourselves that plan war tactics, major government decisions bla bla bla) started to speak.

"Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. Tonight signifies the unity of our two countries and the celebration of Prince Tristan's birthday. Now, without further ado, I give you, the Kings, Queens, Prince and Princess of Narnia and Telmar!" I recognised the voice to be Orieus'. The doors opened and we started to walk into the hall, along to the sound of royal trumpets, with Narnian and Telmarine flags draped from their long, golden bodies. I swallowed hard when we reached the middle of the Great Hall, where we were supposed to dance. Usually, I'd be nervous just in case I'd fall over or something, but now I'm nervous because of the Prince of Telmar.

The entire hall fell silent before the band started playing the first song. It was a beautiful melody, one of my favourites, but I couldn't wait for it to finish. The Prince spun me around and took my hand, taking me across the dance floor in a traditional dance. I stepped on his toes many times, but he didn't flinch or show any emotion; he just kept staring at me with a small smile on his face. It made me feel really uncomfortable.

I know I've just met him and everything, and he could be a nice guy, but I just didn't feel very comfortable around him, or his family. Remember, Telmar was a small country, practically a large tribe that was on Calormen land, so no-one really knew much about them. We waltzed around the hall once more before the music stopped and everyone burst into applause, and it felt as if a huge weight had been lifted off my shoulders because the dance was over.

I sighed with relief, and was about to turn away from Tristan before he grabbed my arm, which made me look at him in doing so. He lifted my hand to his lips and kissed it, and I gave him a very, _very_ forced smile back him; it was probably more like a grimace when I think about it. Anyway, he let go of my hand and walked into the crowd and I looked at Lucy. She gave a shrug and a small smile before walking towards the balcony and I followed her out, grabbing two glasses filled with iced sherbet as I went.

The night air felt good on my skin; I hadn't realized how hot it had been in the hall. I extended my hand to Lucy and gave her the glass before taking a long drink of my own.

"I can't believe he did that!" Lucy blurted out. I chocked on my drink and took a coughing fit, managing to splutter out, 'What?'

"He kissed your hand!" she exclaimed, flailing her arms around and spilling her iced sherbet everywhere.

"Calm down Lu, it's not a big deal," I replied.

"But that means he wants to court you Rach!"

I was a taken aback, "Him? Me? I don't think so Lu. "

Lu sighed, as if she was teaching a stupid child, "How many princesses are there in Telmar Rach?"

"Well…" I said, screwing up my face to try and answer her question, "I've never heard of any."

"And what do princes marry?"

"Princesses," I said, realization dawning on me. I had to set the glass down on the balcony's edge because I would probably drop it.

"Exactly! Rach, he wants to court you!"

My hands shook slightly, "No…he wouldn't…he couldn't…I won't allow it!" I looked around the balcony in desperation, and I was almost sure I could see a dark figure in the corner…

"It a Telmarine tradition Rach, for when he starts to court you, he will arrange a marriage, with or without your consent. If he likes you, or hates you, he will court you, because all the other princesses are already courting." Lu said. My gaze switched from the figure in the corner to her again as if I had just been slapped.

"Telmar doesn't have traditions! Telmar is a new country; it couldn't have them already! I won't court him, and there's an even smaller chance for him to marry me."

"Rach, unless you or him start to court someone else, then there is a high chance that the Narnian Elders and the Telmarine government will force you to marry him."

"Well then they can take my crown and burn it for all I care! There is no way I'm marrying that _thing _I hardly know!" I said angrily.

"Listen Rach, this isn't the time to be talking about this; anybody could hear this. Let's just enjoy the party and-"

"I'm tired Lu, I think I'll head off to bed," I said exasperatedly, walking away from her and heading back into the hall. 'That's the side of Lu that people should know about,' something said in my head, 'the wise side, the firm side, the adult side of her. She's not a little kid anymore.' I agreed with it.

I struggled to get through the crowd of slightly drunken people as a lively Irish-like jig started. When I finally emerged from the hall, I pinched the bridge of my nose and started walking down the corridor. I started thinking about the conversation I just had with Lu, and I was so deep in thought that I didn't realize that I had just walked into someone.

"Watch where you are walking, female!" a voice said with a thick Telmarine accent.

I looked up and I was about to apologise before I saw who it was. Prince Tristan. All the thoughts about marrying him and how pompous and stuck up his parents where…it just made something within me break. I flicked my eyes up to him, my facial expression stony, "I think it is you that should be watching where he's going, Tristan," I spat out his name.

He didn't even apologise to me, 'Oh I'm sorry princess, I thought it was a servant!' and even if it had of been a servant, it still would not have been right to say something to them so rudely. Narnia was a country where everything is fair, regardless of gender, title, species…nobody discriminates against someone. In Telmar, well, it was obviously a lot different, and I mean North-Pole-Sahara-Desert different!

In Tristan's eyes, a blaze erupted, "How dare you call me by me first name! It is disrespectful to call a Telmarine prince by his first name if you have just met them; especially by a female."

I laughed humourlessly, "You know, I thought you could have been a nice guy. I'm all for second chances, but when a prince, of a country that is tiny in comparison to Narnia, waltzes on in and acts like he's the king of the world loses my respect for them. I feel sorry for your people, and there is zero chance of you courting me. Now get away from me!" I nearly shouted at him.

"You are a female and you will respect me! I am your superior!" he said, glaring at me.

"I am a female, well done Tristan! You learned something about me! You know what else you're going to find out about me? Is that I, a female, can kick and punch like a man!" I was about to lift my foot to him until his large hand wrapped around my neck, hoisted me into the air and pinned me to a wall.

"It is clear that you need to show people respect, and I will take great pleasure in teaching you how to!" His free hand curled into a fist and his other hand tightened around my neck, making it hard for me to breathe, "You think that you can get out of marrying me? I have every intention of making you my bride, and then I will force the Kings of Narnia to give their land to me and become its ruler!"

"What is wrong with you?" I screeched. This guy is insane!

I started to see stars, and his hand grew ever tighter around my neck. I thought he was going to drive me into unconsciousness before I heard someone say-

"Put her down."

Tristan turned around and I immediately felt his hand leave my neck. I dropped to the floor and felt my knees hit the ground painfully. I was on my hands and knees, except that my right hand was clutching my throat, which was throbbing unpleasantly. Tears blurred my eyesight and I gulped down air, before coughing and retching. My neck felt as if it was on fire, and I could feel the places where his sweaty hand had been…

"What were you doing to her?" a voice roared. I looked up at the person who was speaking and to my surprise it was Ed. Edmund Pevensie was my saviour!

"She was being disrespectful!" Tristan defended.

"I don't care if she was about to throw you into shark-infested waters! She is a fourteen year old girl that is less than half your height, half your weight and unable to defend herself. If anybody has been disrespectful, it is you! You have disgraced yourself! And also, you do not try and suffocate my family!"

"She is not your family," Tristan added quietly.

"She's as good as! Rachel has helped to save Narnia and she was rewarded for it, so I don't think Pete or any of the Narnians would be very happy with you injuring their princess. Now get out of here before you embarrass and dishonour yourself and your country even more, and before I change my mind about not strangling you."

Tristan, who was probably three years older than Ed and a lot tougher, listened to him and walked quickly away from us, sending us dirty looks over his shoulder as he did so. My throat was really sore, but apart from that I was fine. The only thing I'd have to do is maybe wear high-necked shirts or thick choker necklaces for the next few days. I felt Ed grab my arm and he helped me back onto my feet, the tears in my eyes vanishing as I got up; I didn't like the Pevensies seeing me cry.

"Are you alright?" Ed asked.

"I'm fine," I replied bluntly.

His hand went up to my neck, where I'm sure that the red marks were Tristan's hand had been were still there. I winced when he touched them, not because it was sore but because his hands were really, really warm. His hand left my skin unexpectedly.

"I don't think that he did any internal damage, but if I hadn't come along then it could've been a lot worse. It'll bruise though."

"Thanks Ed," I replied hoarsely. I started to head back to the Great Hall, but he grabbed my arm again.

"Where do you think you're going?"

"Back to the dance," I said, with a hint of annoyance in my voice.

"You are most definitely not going anywhere near that Hall when that_ prince_ is still here."

I thought this over for a moment before making up my mind, "You're right Ed."

"Come on, I'll take you back to your room."

"I'm perfectly capable of going back-" I saw the look on his face and decided that it would be better to just agree with him. He still had his hand around my upper arm and although some people might think that that gesture would be weird, I found it strangely comforting. I felt like I was safe, and because I was shaken from what Tristan had done, it was greatly appreciated.

"…I don't know what was wrong with him! He was like 'I will become king of Narnia!' and I was like, 'Eh, no way!" and then you came along," I explained to Edmund.

"From now on, he's not getting anywhere near you," he replied.

"You're kinda acting like my bodyguard," I was starting to act more like myself instead of that little girl I had been fifteen minutes ago.

"Don't get used to it," he joked, smiling just a tiny bit.

"So when are the Telmarines leaving?" I asked, changing the subject.

"Tomorrow afternoon, thank goodness."

"Well, let's just say that I will be having a rare lie-in tomorrow and then I will be out flying with Ronny."

"You had better take Lu with you; you know how much she loves flying."

Ronny, Iron Feather, was a Gryphon that I had met in the White Witch's castle when the Pevensie girls had been held ransom back when the Witch was still alive. He was also the Captain of the Gryphon battalion and a member of Narnia's High Court and my loyal companion, along with my Talking Horse, Tia. She was a beautiful black mare with a white star on her head and she and Ronny were always talking to each other when I went down to the stables.

Every time I think about the Witch, the scars that she had left me with on my back start to prickle uncomfortably. They weren't as noticeable as they had once been and now were more like long, white lines criss-crossing across my back. I knew that she was gone, probably forever, but she still scared me…and I knew, deep down, that she still scared Edmund.

"Yeah, I will. But we'll have to leave without anybody noticing us, especially Su."

"Don't worry Rach, I won't tell her anything."

"You had better not! She'll make me stay here and socialize with that….freak," we approached my door and his hand was still on my arm, "thank-you King Edmund."

"Don't be so patronising," he said with his usual, corner of the mouth smile.

I laughed, "Seriously though, I don't know what he would have done to me if you hadn't showed up. How did you know where I was anyway?" a puzzled look crossed my face.

"Well…I…I was taking a walk around the palace, getting some air, when I saw you go heading towards your bedroom so…I followed you, wanting to know why you were leaving the ball so early and then um, I saw him pin you against the wall." I nodded and patted the hand that was on my arm. I took it off my arm and ran my thumb across the back of his hand, without thinking.

"I really mean it Ed. Thank-you so much." I let his hand go and watched it hang limply at his side before turning the door handle behind me and entering my room. I closed it gently, and sank to the ground slowly, thinking everything over in my mind.

'Today started off as a cold, yet beautiful day. I played in the snow, threw snowball, ran after my best friends…met the royals of Telmar, met them and didn't like them, found out that the Telmarine prince could be a potential candidate for courting and the Telmarine traditions behind that, left the hall and got pinned to a wall by the Prince Tristan and Ed saved me.' However, one thing stood out in my mind, and I debated about it in my head.

After a while I came to my conclusion, and I was one hundred percent sure of it. If there had been a dark figure out on the balcony, and then when I left it Tristan followed me, there was only one possible explanation.

Tristan had been the dark figure on the balcony.

**A/N *Dramatic music* I've changed the guy who was meant to be Caspian the First to Tristan…so hopefully there'll be no more confusion. Reviews make me happy and help me update quicker…so click that little button below and make my day! Love ya chicks! **

**Xx Elemental Angel xX**


	4. Chapter 3 Safe houses and letters

**A/N Okay, the bad news is that I obviously haven't updated in years. Well, that's a slight exaggeration, but it had been a long time. The good news is that I've written up to like, chapter seven. And since Christmas is coming up, there should be a couple more updates on the way. I'm sooooo excited for Christmas! It may be cold, but I love it! Snow, sledging, Christmas trees, presents….*sigh*. And snowball fights! Can't forget about them! **

**Anyway, review time!  
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**MaskedNarnianQueen-I'm glad you liked it! Thanks so much for reviewing because it means so much!**

**Kat Shady-Thanks for reviewing! Yeah, I thought the whole Caspian thing would work but it didn't so I changed it in the end…but I'm glad you enjoyed it!**

**Calyn-Thanks for reviewing and pointing that out for me! I've fixed it, so it's all good! I thought it would've worked, but it clearly didn't **

**princess emma of narnia-Thank you for reviewing!**

**Princess of Narnia 1192 – Aw, thank you! It means a lot when people review!**

**Milk'n'CookiesBookWorm – Yeah I can't wait for Christmas! Nah, he's not a very nice guy at the minute. Grr! And yeahm it shows that I'm not writing to myself and no one's reading it…and it gives me loads of encouragement! **

**Mr Blobby's Cheesecake – Thanks for reviewing and yeah, I hate Tristan too!**

**On with the show!**

**Chapter Three – Safe houses and letters**

After a while, I decided that it would be best if I went to sleep, but after a while of looking up at the ceiling, I knew that tonight would be a sleepless night. Tiny flakes of snow drifted down from the sky and the moon was hard to see because of the thick layer of cloud. It was extremely dark outside, and only the castle's flaming torches illuminated the castle's grounds.

The silence was unusual because I would usually hear the trees rustling in the distance, or animals moving around as they settled down for the night, but not tonight. It was as if the snow had brought a silence to Narnia. The scene from my balcony was of that of a ghost story; the woods to my left and right were snow-capped and bare, the courtyard below me and the small meadow that stretched out towards the cliffs above Mermaid Cove were like a blank sheet of paper and the normally dark blue ocean was grey and gloomy like the sky it mirrored.

I lifted my locket up from my chest and blew down the small hole softly. I had worn it to the ball that night, and like always, didn't take it off; it never left my skin. I heard the flapping of strong wings and now perched on my balcony rail, was my loyal companion Ronny.

"You called mistress?" he said, yawning.

"I'm so sorry that I woke you up Ronny, but I have got to get out of here."

"Why are you in such a hurry mistress?"

"I've told you once, I've told you a million times not to call me mistress Ronny," I said exasperatedly, "anyway, it started off when we were waiting for the ball to start…" and I told him about everything that had happened. His keen, golden eyes widened in shock before he hopped down from the railing and turned his back to me. I held on to his shoulder blades as he took off before putting my knees underneath my body and sitting upright on his back. I had gotten so used to flying like this that it was almost natural, although sometimes I came very close to falling off.

I felt the snow hitting against my face and the wind whipping through my hair; I felt free. Flying with Ronny was one of the most relaxing things I have ever done, despite the altitude. It was the way that I got away from things in the castle, but I usually flew during daylight hours, never this late. Or early, it depends of what kind of person you are.

I breathed deeply and felt the cold, yet refreshing air fill my lungs and bring a sense of calm to my body. We flew as a dark silhouette across the dully lit sky, and the forest below us looked like it was in a peaceful sleep apart from some thin, spiralling towers of smoke from dying fires that had been set up by fauns for some late night dancing, or the centaurs so that they may continue an ancient ritual that they always performed every few weeks.

We flew for a long time, watching the rolling hills and the calm waters of lakes beneath us. Finally Ronny started to slow down, and my eyes grew tired. We landed near a twisted, old oak tree and we set up camp underneath it.

"You always know what I need, Ronny," I said to him sleepily.

"Hm…" he replied as he dragged his wings along the ground and using them to clear a patch of ground from snow and dead leaves. He lay down on his side and he held his wing up for me. I smiled at this gesture, and used him as a pillow, with his soft wing wrapped around me as a blanket. After a while, I didn't know whether or not I was awake or just sleeping, and so my brain shut down and left me in a deep sleep.

Light was streaming down onto my face and it caused me to roll over and groan with sleepiness.

"Mistress, you must wake up, the Kings and Queens will be looking for you," said Ronny who was shaking me slightly.

I muttered something that even I didn't understand. After a while, I felt something move under my head and Bam! My head hit the ground unceremoniously. I rubbed it and sat up; it had definitely woken me up. I moaned in annoyance, but I climbed onto his back anyway. He jumped into the air and flapped his wings several times before lifting off from the ground elegantly.

After about half an hour of flying, I saw the towers of Cair. We approached it from the back and then, when we were over the courtyard, I expected Ronny to land there. However, he didn't and I soon found out why; a huge ship with Telmarine flags lay in the water of Mermaid Cove. We flew over the cove before Ronny said to me, "Make sure that no-one can see any part of you as we fly over the Telmarine ship."

"Why?"

"With your permission mistress, I will leave them a little present," he said mischievously.

"Permission granted," I replied, with a hint of bewilderment in my voice.

* * *

><p>Edmund's POV<p>

"…Narnia is a beautiful place, King Peter," King Gustavo said.

"Yes it is, and I intend to keep it that way," Pete answered.

"Well, we Telmarines will know that Narnia is our great ally," Gustavo continued.

They had been at this for at least half an hour! They were meant to be gone by now. Besides, Rachel could come back any minute now, and it was hard enough to come up with an excuse to cover-up her absence. Lucy was looking quite tense as well, probably because she was thinking the same thing as me.

I was so lost in my own thoughts that the next thing I knew was that Pete and Gustavo were shaking hands. I knew that Rach had taken Ronny last night and they had disappeared without a trace, but I trusted Rach, along with everybody else; I knew that she would come back.

I heard something fly over me and very quickly at that. I barely caught a glimpse of the creature, but something fell out of the air and onto the sand beside me. I picked it up and saw that it was a heart-shaped piece of wood, with someone's very recognisable Mark on it. I picked it up and stared out across Mermaid Bay. I was looking straight into the midday sun, so I could barely see a thing, but after a while, a small dot that was slowly coming closer and closer to us, but fortunately the Telmarines were on their boat.

The figure was flying over the ship now and something white dropped out of the bird, which was obviously Ronny. I heard cries of disgust emanating from the ship that had barely started sailing away, and a joyful laugh coming from on top of Ronny.

* * *

><p>Rachel's POV<p>

Ronny approached the Telmarine ship very quickly, and I was spread-eagled across Ronny hoping that no-one would see me.

"I hope that you appreciate this mistress, for it is not befitting of a knight of Narnia to do such a deed," Ronny said, "look at the ship below."

I looked down, almost sick from the height (sometimes I did get scared of heights), and saw a white bomb heading towards the ship. I heard a splat, a scream and raised voices before it clicked in my mind. I let out a laugh of pure immatureness of what my loyal, respectable Narnian Knight had done to deface the Telmarine ship.

We circled around Cair for a while until the ship was about five hundred metres out to sea before Ronny thought that it would be safe to land. I slid off Ronny's back and onto the sand of the beach beside the Pevensies, letting out a burst of laughter as I did so.

"Oh my grief, that was funny," I said, wiping a tear from my eye. Su rolled her eyes and Pete gave me a puzzled look, but Ed and Lu obviously wanted to know what happened. When the two older ones left the beach and started climbing up a steep set of stairs towards Cair.

We started to follow them, "What happened when Ronny flew over the ship?" Lu asked.

I smiled broadly, "Lu…Ronny just 'deposited' over it," I said, putting air-floats over 'deposited.' It took them a while to understand what I had just said, but when I saw the smiles slowly come across their faces, I knew that they had. We burst out laughing on the stairs up to the castle, with Pete and Su giving us weird looks.

Yep, Ronny had just done a big poo on the deck of a Telmarine ship.

* * *

><p>The coming days got colder and colder and the snow that had once been perfect for throwing snowballs with had turned to horrible ice. Su had no parties to plan for, and the army couldn't practice because of the awful conditions. Lucy couldn't talk to the Narnians because sometimes it was minus ten degrees outside and it would take her a day to get into the forest without horses. So, we decided that we would stay around the castle for a couple of days; the only person working was Pete and I had to help him out with that, not that I was complaining though, at least I wasn't being lectured about chess from Ed. Seriously, I don't know what it is with him and that game.<p>

Pete was signing pieces of paperwork while I read through them, "So what does that one from Archenland say?" Pete asked.

"Not much. Just some things about our alliance and everything, so...nothing out of the ordinary," I replied, my mind elsewhere. I saw Pete looking at me weirdly, like he was trying to read my mind, but then his eyes went back to the mountains of documents before him. I sighed loudly and placed my left hand on my cheek before scanning through the next piece of paperwork.

Pete's POV

I kept looking up at her every so often. Lately, I've been noticing that Rachel's looking paler than usual, and her eyes were bloodshot with dark rings around them. She had been eating properly, so nothing was wrong with her appetite. Maybe she was finding it hard to sleep? She certainly looked tired anyway.

"Rach?" I asked her. No reply, "Rach?" once again, no reply, "Rachel?"

She suddenly jolted upright, like she had been electrocuted, "Hm?"

"Are you alright?"

She blinked at me for a minute before saying, "Yeah." She rubbed her hand around her face and sighed again, putting her brown leather boots on the table and crossing them, before taking another document. She was dressed in casual men's-like clothes-a blue shirt, green leggings and her necklace, which she had never taken off. Her hair was up in a messy bun, like she had just rolled out of bed. Now that I think about it, she may have done so…

"Rach, I know when you're lying to me," I said.

She made a sort of alarmed noise before setting down the document and taking her feet off the desk, "Okay, you got me."

"So what's wrong?" I asked, sounding stupid.

"I don't know…I just haven't been sleeping very well lately."

"How come? Are we putting you under stress with you helping us all the time? Because we can manage without you," she turned her head and stared at me, as if she was saying, 'yeah right,' "for a few days at least."

"I don't think it's that Pete. Could we just get on with this? Ed asked me if I wanted to play chess with him again, and Lu wants to explore the castle some more."

"Rach, if you could just tell me what's going on then maybe we could figure put what's wrong."

"Pete I'm fine, could we just drop this please? I want to get this done," she replied with a yawn. Her voice sounded sharp, so I just gave up on trying to find out what was wrong. A while had passed and Rach hadn't given me more documents. I was on the last one that she had read through, and she was still reading the same document, placing it so that it would stay upright on the desk without her support.

"Can I have the next document?" I asked after I had finished. She didn't reply, "Rach?" I looked over the page and saw Rachel with her head lying sideways on her arm, fast asleep. I decided that she had had enough for today, so I gently picked her up, put her on the settee where she had slept a few weeks before and planed my cloak over her. She looked so small and fragile when she was asleep, but anyone that knew her would say that she could be quick-tempered and fierce, especially for a girl. She wasn't like Su or Lu who were very feminine and wore dresses all the time; she was a tom-boy who loved being outdoors and sport, making her quite competitive. She had her faults like the rest of us, a couple of them being that she was quite clumsy, stubborn and hated being wrong.

However, she was my friend, a great one at that, and my siblings very close to her as well. She had helped us all and it was incredibly appreciated, especially by me. I propped her head up against a pillow and walked away, continuing my work as she slept peacefully.

* * *

><p>Rachel's POV<p>

It was that dream again…that horrible nightmare that has plagued me for weeks. I dreamt about it once and didn't have it again for a few days, but now I'm dreaming about it every other night. The thing is though, I hardly remember anything about it once I wake up; I just know that it's the same dream over and over again.

Earth, wind, fire, water…bodies are contained within each of these elements, preventing them from moving. I'm standing in the middle, but someone else is here, someone else that…seems to be familiar. Behind that figure are two smaller ones, shadowy and with distorted features.

"_The time has come, the time when you shall face me!"_ A maniacal laugh sounded through the darkness, as I slowly exited the dream, with ears still ringing with the sound of that terrifying sound…

I woke up with a start with beads of cold sweat across my forehead. Instantly, the memories of the nightmare left me and I took in my new, safe surroundings. I saw that I was once again lying on Pete's settee with his cloak draped over me.

"Wow, how long have I been out for?" I mumbled.

"About an hour and a half," Pete said from his desk, making me jump. I was still shaken from the dream, and so I was on edge, "are you alright Rach? You were talking in your sleep and you were breathing really heavily."

"Mmph, I'm…I'm alright. Just a stupid ream, eh?" I replied, with a very forced laugh. He obviously didn't believe me, but he just went back to his work.

* * *

><p>"Let's go!" Lu said. I had recently helped Pete complete a couple of documents and he said I was free to go. I had met Ed on the way, so he was coming as well.<p>

We had entered a passageway that lead to the South Tower of Cair. The four main towers of Cair were arranged in a square; the North being at the top left, the East at the top right, the South at the bottom right and the West at the bottom left. Yeah, complicated, I know.

Lu ran up the spiralling staircase, passing small windows that were letting the last few afternoon rays of sun come in. The snow was beginning to thaw slightly, but winter was far from being over. Christmas was in a weeks time, so everyone was getting very excited; especially Lu.

"Slow down Lucy," I said, panting slightly, "Gosh, I need to run more."

"Or you could stop eating all those cakes," he said, passing me with a smirk on his face.

"You can talk marshmallow boy!" I exclaimed after him.

"You said that you'd never bring that up again," he retorted.

"Oh, but I did," I said, shrugging my shoulders. He pushed me a little bit, so I shoved him back and into the inside wall. Hhis shoulder hit off a brick and pushed it into the wall surprisingly, and a section of it opened up, creating a doorway and revealing a passageway.

Ed and I glanced at each other before looking into the dark hole, "You get Lu, I'll get a torch," Ed said as I stepped into the corridor.

"Lu!" I yelled up the staircase.

"What?" came the reply.

"We've found something!" I shouted back. I heard footsteps echoing down the stairs, getting louder with each passing second until Lu was beside me. She saw the hole in the wall and I explained that we were going to see what lay down it when Ed came back with a torch.

Cair had many hidden passageways throughout its structure and many old maps showed these concealed corridors (of which Lu and I had possession of). However, this one had never shown up on any of them, so the question was; what was this corridor hiding? What was so important about it that it had not been written into at least fifty different maps of Cair?

Ed had returned with a flaming torch in his hand. He stepped into the dark hole before saying, "Come on, it seems to be safe." We followed the flame and took little precautionary steps, just in case it had been booby-trapped or something; Lu and I had had a little run in with one of them in a different tunnel, and it involved a heck of a lot of sharp objects.

We walked for what seemed like an eternity, shuffling along the wet ground beneath our feet and hearing the ominous of dripping water echo throughout the tunnel. From what I can tell, this passageway was quite thin, with old and worn bricks covering the walls and floor.

I saw Ed stop a few paces in front of me. The lit torch illuminated a wooden door that took up almost the entire width of the corridor and Ed had just placed his hand on the door handle. He turned the handle, struggling for a minute as the handle was stiff, and opened it with a loud creaking sound. I heard Lucy gasp behind me quietly as it did so, but I didn't turn to comfort her as I was too interested in what was behind the room.

Ed had entered and had found a few extra torches. He started to light them and put them in rusty holders, which I thought would break any minute now. As the light level grew, I saw that we were standing in an oval shaped room with a spiral staircase on one side and another room on the other. Light came from the spiral staircase, so I could assume that it was sunlight. There was green carpet underneath my feet and there was a faded pattern on it, one that was a darker green-blue colour than the main colour of the carpet that was arranged in a circular pattern. The walls were made of old grey-green bricks and they were bare. Dust lay around the room like snow.

"It's a safe house," Ed muttered.

"What's that?" Lu asked.

"We're underneath the castle Lu. It must have been constructed when Cair was being built, but never put on a map or blueprint."

I had wandered off into the other room while they were talking and discovered what lay within it. I looked at its contents and was flicking through one now, "Well done Sherlock, but you forgot one tiny detail; there's a library back there," I said, putting my hand over my shoulder and pointing to it with my thumb. I turned back into the library and placed the heavy book back on a shelf as Ed and Lu came in, Ed carrying a torch. More dust covered the books and shelves.

"Careful! You don't want to put this whole place on fire, do you?" I said to him. He grumbled and found another holder, illuminating the room with light. A more powerful light suddenly shone across the room and I looked to where it was coming from. Lu had found, and opened, a window on the other side of the room. I went over to it and, stupidly, looked down. My stomach immediately left my body and cascaded into the sea below, as we were in a room that was carved into the side of a mountain, sixty feet up from the ground.

I backed away from the window slowly, thinking that something might happen and I'd be sent plummeting towards the ocean. It was very bright in the room now and Ed was flicking through books, while Lu had found one she liked and had sat down on the ground to read it.

"A lot of them are in ancient Narnian, but there are a few that are in our language…" Ed stated.

"This place…it's amazing," Lu said.

"Should we…should we tell the others?" I asked.

"They don't care when we find any other passageway, so why tell them about this?" Ed answered. I nodded in agreement.

Ed walked out of the room and into the oval shaped room, went to the other side and started climbing the narrow spiral staircase. I looked over at Lucy, who put her book down on a nearby shelf and we started to follow her brother. There was light coming from above us and the ground was getting drier. We finally reached the top, where a wooden hatch had been opened. Lu and I squeezed through it and into a circular shaped room with a cone shaped ceiling. It looked like a small version of a turret at Cair, and the roof was being supported by four large pillars that were connected to the floor. There were no windows, just gaps in between each pillar. It was only ten feet of the ground and behind me was a forest, in front was the Eastern Sea.

Ed was already looking out towards the sea and he turned to look at us, "We'd better start to head back. They'll be wondering where we are." We approached the wooden hatch and started to walk down the stairs again and the staircase suddenly became dark; Ed had closed the hatch.

When we reached the bottom of the stairs, we took one of the torches and extinguished the rest, before closing the stiff door behind us and heading back to Cair.

* * *

><p>It had been a few hours since we had discovered the chamber and Ed and I were playing chess, with him winning by a mile. I moved my bishop and took his knight, but then he moved his own bishop and took mine.<p>

"So what are we going to do about the secret library?" I asked him.

"Well, I'm going to read a couple of books from it and maybe redecorate it. But I'm not going to tell anybody that I am."

"It'll be our secret then," I said, smiling slightly.

"Yeah, I suppose it will be," he replied, smiling his patented crooked smile.

It was about ten o'clock when we had finished our fourth game, and Ed won every single one. I decided to go to bed early because tomorrow was the first time in a week that Ed and I could work with the army since the snow had begun to melt. I bid Ed goodnight and put my pyjamas on, which consisted of a baggy shirt and leggings. I got ready to go to sleep and picked up a book that I had been reading about Narnian myths and legends when something flew through the balcony doors and dropped something on my bed before exiting out of the other pair of doors. It happened so fast that I couldn't identify what had been carrying the object.

I went over to my bed and saw that it was a white envelope, sealed with red wax and it had a strange symbol imprinted on it. I opened the letter cautiously and began to read it, struggling to decipher the fancy calligraphy.

_Dear Princess Elfin,_

_I am sure that Aslan has already told you about the journey you must make to my island. He informed me before he disappeared that I should be your teacher, and what you must do afterwards…_

I read through the letter again and again before finally letting the tears stream down my face as I slumped to the floor.

"Why did you leave me with this burden Aslan? Why me?"

"Give me strength Aslan."

**A/N So the whole Caspian thing was confusing so I changed him to Tristan…so yeah, read and review! Reviews help me write and update more and it makes me feel like I'm writing and people are reading, instead of me just writing and updating for no reason…so review!**

**Xx Elemental Angel xX**


	5. Chapter 4 An eventful Christmas

**A/N Merry Christmas everybody! Woohoooooooo! I cannot wait! I love this time of year because, well, who doesn't? So here's a little present for you guys and I hope you like it!**

**Review time**

**Mr Blobby's cheesecake- Hopefully there are some more on the way!**

**princess of narnia- Thank you!**

**toffee- I will**

**Lantern- Thanks!**

**On with the show!**

**Chapter Four – An eventful Christmas **

**Su's POV**

Today was awfully strange without Rachel. She had talked to Lu this morning and said that she felt very sick, so she had stayed in her room all day and nobody saw her; even the maid who gave left her food didn't see her. The only thing we knew is that she was still here because the food was being eaten.

It wasn't until midday the next day when we next saw her. She was sitting at the dining table with her nose stuck in a book and she told us that she was researching some Narnian myths, so she wouldn't be able to help us out today. Pete allowed her the day off again which annoyed me a little, since she technically wasn't doing her duty. Still, nobody else complained, so why should I?

**Rachel's POV**

The news the letter brought still made me shake. I was scared of what is going to happen, but I knew I have to do it; it was my duty. But…that doesn't make it any easier, knowing that it has to happen.

Anyway, I was taking a few says off to try and recover and learn more about the lives of the previous Guardians. So far I had found several brief mentions of some of them but not a lot, most of the time it was just the word 'Guardian.' It wasn't much to go on, but finding a little snippet of my ancestors gave my body a burst of excitement, a shot of adrenaline that made all the other reading worthwhile.

I was going to hate having to not tell anybody about what the letter said, but I was going to have to get used to it.

Anyway, Christmas was in a week and since our reign started, it was going to be the first Christmas that we were all together because last year we were in Archenland, doing all sorts of things individually because of our recent coronation.

I had gotten Lu and Su's presents sorted and Lu and I were giving Ed a joint present. I had to think of a small present that I could give Ed just from me and one for Pete. I decided that I needed a break from reading, so I set down my book on my desk made of ash wood, slipped on a pair of knee-high leather boots and went outside, wearing a pair of thick jockey-like leggings and a faux-fur lined jacket.

I walked down the endless, twisting corridors and came to side door which lead out towards the stables. I wasn't going riding; I just wanted to talk to Tia. I came to her stall and I could hear her talking to someone, so I looked over the stall door and saw that she was talking to Ronny. They looked like they were best friends, the way that they were talking. They looked up at me and immediately stopped talking, which made me feel like I was intruding on their conversation.

"Sorry, am I interrupting?" I asked.

"No Miss Elfin, we were merely conversing about the time of year," Ronny answered.

"You can call me Rachel if you want to Ronny, I've always told you that!" I replied. Silence fell for a few minutes.

"Something is on your mind, Rachel," Tia said, her voice going quieter as she said my name.

"Yeah…" I replied, "I don't know what to get Ed or Pete for Christmas, that's all." I felt as if her eyes were X-raying me because even though what I had told her was the truth, there was another thing that was troubling me as well. I found that looking at the floor was more interesting than looking at them, so I played with some of the hairs that had fallen out of Tia's tail and onto the stable floor.

"Make them a bracelet," Ronny said.

"Pfft, out of what? Horse hair?" I exclaimed, holding some of it up in my hand.

"Well, yes. Maybe not for both of them; you could make something out of one of my feathers as well if you wanted too."

I sat on deep thought for a moment, "Do you think they'd like it? It wouldn't look…_cheap_ or anything?"

"Rachel, they're kings for pity's sake; they already have everything they want! Money can buy quality, but it can't buy the amount of thought and effort that had gone into the gift."

I hesitated before saying, "Okay. I'll see what comes to me." Ronny plucked a feather from his wing and Tia flicked her tail up towards her mouth. She pulled some out as I gathered some more from the floor, before taking the feather and the extra hair. I fiddled with them for a moment before thanking them both and leaving the stable.

I heard them both starting to talk again and something came over me. Before I knew it, I was creeping back into the stables, trying to make as little sound as possible. I put my head near Tia's stall so I could hear them, before Tia said, "It is rude for a princess to eavesdrop, isn't it Rachel?" I grumbled to myself as I stalked out of the stables, still playing with the feather and hair in my hands.

* * *

><p>A week had passed by in a blur and all of Narnia was in Christmas mode. Christmas tress littered the castle, wrapped in red and gold tinsel as if it were a sparkling scarf. Enchanted candles drooped off the ends of the branches and every fire in the castle was in a warm, comfortable blaze. The temperatures outside stooped way below zero, but that didn't stop the Narnians from having a good time! It was only their second Christmas in a century, and still some were unfamiliar with the celebration. However, they learned about the Christmas traditions from older generations, passed down from parent to child for one hundred years and this Christmas was going to be a good one.<p>

Today was Christmas Eve and the air buzzed with excitement. The servants had been split in half so that one half was able to work half of today and then they were allowed to go home; the other half were allowed half a day off and then they had to take over. However, they were all allowed Christmas day off.

The Pevensies and I had agreed that we would open our presents on Christmas Day, and tonight we would put them under a tree in the lounge, a room in the castle where would you could go and just relax if we had the time. It had sofas and cushions galore, and it was quite a small cosy room, rather like a living room. The carpet was red and the walls were cream with green vines painted on it, and the tree was in the corner.

Since I was going to be busy the next day, I thought that tonight would be the perfect time to give Ronny and Tia their presents. I headed out to the stable and went to Tia's stall, and it was no surprise that Ronny was there as well. Any time I went out there he was in there, and I could see how close they were getting; they were almost best friends.

I sat down on the stable floor with my presents for each of them in my hands. It was very cold outside and I was wrapped up in a warm cloak, but thankfully the stables were warm. I placed each of their presents on the ground next to them and they opened them quickly, before looking at their presents.

I had gotten Ronny a scarlet scarf and claw gloves, which were made out of leather and they covered his foot but exposed his fearsome claws; they were like fingerless gloves for humans except they were…for a…gryphon…awkward. Anyway, I got Tia a periwinkle-coloured blanket and new horseshoes that the stable boy would put on for her. I would put them on myself, but I'd make a right mess of it.

They both thanked me for the presents and then they gave me presents from them, and I was so happy that they had gotten me them. I opened them and saw that Ronny had gotten me a book on Narnian history and Tia gave me a Forget-Me-Not flower that was enchanted so that it would never wilt. I thanked and hugged them both for their presents before talking for a while and heading back inside. It was now dark outside and the stars were shining brightly tonight; the moon was almost full.

I walked across the courtyard; kicking some freshly fallen snow into the air and making it flurry around me and sting my skin where it was exposed. The wind was now a slight breeze, but it started to pick up and, I know it sounds cliché, I felt like something was wrong with it. It felt…like a tense wind, as if it knew that something bad was going to happen. I didn't like the feel of it, so I scurried inside and went to my room, got my pyjamas on and sat in front of the fire. After I had warmed up, I grabbed the book that Ronny got me for Christmas and began to read it. I flicked to the contents page and found a whole list of things that were included in this book, as it had over eight hundred pages.

"Guardian...Guardian…Guardian…Guardian!" I muttered to myself as I went down the list and I stabbed the page with my finger as I saw the name of the chapter, which was only a few pages long and it was tiny compared to the rest of them. I turned to page five-hundred and sixty-nine and began to read.

"_The story of the Guardian is a long one and there are extensive periods of time that it has not been documented. The Guardian is a figure that is always female, descended from mother to daughter, and only Narnian rulers have these special companions._

_The first Guardian was Polly Plummer who was given power from Aslan himself, and when she left Narnia, another human fell into Narnia and took her place. From then on, the Guardian has been beside the ruler of Narnia of that time, advising and protecting their king or queen throughout their lives. _

"_The Guardian has always shared a special relationship with the kings and queens, and although sometimes not mentioned directly in the life of the monarch, their lives have left their fingerprints across the lives of their given ruler. King Gale and his Guardian are some of the first of these 'couples' or 'duos' that are recorded, as King Gale was the ruler who slew a dragon on the Lone Islands, earning their trust and giving their loyalty to him. His Guardian was by his side the whole time._

_The last recorded Guardian was Rachel Elfin, daughter of Ros__é__-Ann Marie, who was the Guardian before her. Ros__é__-Ann Marie was the Guardian that lived in Narnia before Jadis of Charn, or more commonly known as the White Witch, rose to power. Ros__é__-Ann is one of the Guardians in which we know more about as the documents containing her life have been preserved better than most. Enclosed in these documents were things about her life, and we have found that she was a kind-hearted, loving person, and she loved Narnia very much. History has shown us that when Jadis invaded Narnia and killed that ruler, who is believed to have been Queen Swanwhite._

_It is uncertain what happened during that battle, but legend says that in the climax of their battle, Jadis was going to kill Ros__é__-Ann and then something truly magical happened; Ros__é__-Ann disappeared. She has not been seen since this occasion, but her daughter, Rachel, has come back and fought in the Battle of Beruna, and it is not unusual for a Guardian to fight and protect their ruler, or in this case, rulers. She is also one of the few Guardians to accompany more than one ruler, and even stranger still is that she was made a princess. She also accompanies High King Peter in the Most Noble Order of the Lion as its only two members._

_In conclusion, the Guardian is a monarch's life companion and is blessed with some magical powers and skills, as they have to be ready and armed if trouble ever arises. Their lives can be easy or they can be extremely hard, but Aslan will always be there, prepared to lend the Guardian knowledge."_

I set the book down on the arm chair behind me and puffed up my cheeks with air, before slowly letting it out. I opened the book to the chapter again and read through it once more, my eyes soaking in everything the chapter had said about me. I felt…empty somehow. Yeah, what the author had said about me was nice but…the description…it wasn't _me_. I wasn't a powerful being, I wasn't…I wasn't special: I was me, Rachel Elfin, full stop. I couldn't live behind my titles, I mean, Dame Rachel of Lustor and Princess Rachel of the mystical Caldron were both great and they made me sound like some sort of some flippin' super hero, but I was just a regular person. I _am_ just a regular person.

This isn't who I am. I love being a princess, and I wouldn't change my life for anything, but sometimes…sometimes I wish that I could just take a break from this hectic life. I'm not just a princess, I'm _more_ than that and I know it. I want to do more with my life and with what Aslan has set me to do, I can do just that.

I looked out of my window and onto the horizon, "_I'm ready to accept my destiny,"_ I thought to myself, as clouds took over the sky, covering the moon and stars and sending Narnia into darkness.

* * *

><p>By the next morning I had brightened up. Last night had made me slightly depressed, but c'mon! It's Christmas for goodness sake! I woke up with a young queen bouncing on my bed with a look of pure, child-like excitement on her face.<p>

"It's Christmas! Wake up! We've got to open presents!" she shouted excitedly. She was still in her night gown, so when I got up I gave her a pair of old leggings when I eventually got up. I slept in a baggy old shirt and trousers, so all I had to do was throw on my dressing gown, put on a pair of fluffy socks and throw my hair up in a messy bun. Lu had gone out of my room and woken up her siblings who obviously did not care about what they looked like at this time of the morning, well, except Su of course; she was still fixing her hair.

Pete and Ed's hair was sticking out in all directions. Ed's was the worst, however, but they both managed to pull it off. I couldn't help but think that they both looked…cute with their hair like that.

_What are you thinking Rachel? Snap out of it you idiot!_ I mentally yelled. I shook my head, trying to get those thoughts out of my head. Besides, I felt much more comfortable with being friends with Pete and Ed because if I did…have a relationship with one of them and it didn't end well, it would make everything quite awkward, wouldn't it? Plus, I prefer being single at the moment because it's just so much more fun!

"Jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle all the waaaaay! Oh what fun it is to ride on a one horse open sleigh, HEY!" we all sang, loudly and badly on our way to the lounge. We all grinned like crazy as we entered the small room, which was lit with candles and a fire in the corner. Everybody sat down on the floor and waited impatiently for Su, who came through the door a painstakingly long five minutes later.

Lu was our designated 'present-picker.' She went to the bottom of the Christmas tree and took a present, read out who it was for and who it was from, gave it to the person and then everybody watched eagerly to see what the present was.

Lucy made sure that everybody had their presents before anybody started to open them. Pete was the first to open his and he had gotten a new pair of boots from Su, a book from Ed and a necklace with our coat of arms on it form Lu.

Our coat of arms was a bow, three swords and a diamond bottle arranged in a fan-shape, and it was put in this order from left to right; Su's bow was lying at a ninety degree angle, Ed's, Pete's and my sword were at the top, with Pete's in the middle and vertical, whilst the hilt of Ed's was on the left hand side and pointing at a forty-five degree angle, so that the blade crossed Pete's. Mine was the same, except it was on the right side pointing left. Lu's cordial bottle was at a ninety degree angle on the bottom right and it was known as 'The Pevensie and Elfin Coat of Arms/Royal Seal.' Original, eh?

Pete was now opening my present and it was small in comparison to the rest. He held my present in his hands and examined it before placing it on top of his new book. I had made use of Ronny's feather and I had made it into a quill, but it was special because the feather had been dipped in liquid silver. I was sitting beside Pete and he thanked me a lot before Su opened her presents.

Su got a small mirror from Pete, a new hairbrush from Ed (how he thought of buying that is beyond me) a new pair of pink flats from Lu and a necklace from me. Ed got a new shield from Pete (which was kind of obvious, because it was a big, heavy, circular present that couldn't have been anything else) a humongous book from Su (I seriously don't know why everybody's getting books but I'm not complaining) and then he opened the present from Lu and I. I swear his eyes went the size of dinner plates as he looked at his gift which was a new chess set, but not your average chess set…this set was made out of pure gold, and it had rubies studded every piece.

You would have thought that the guy had died and gone to heaven with an expression like that on his face. I put my hand under his jaw and pushed it up, breaking him out of his trance. He turned and looked at me, "You were gonna catch flies if you kept your mouth open any longer," I said simply.

He smiled his crooked smile before taking my hand away from his jaw and holding it for a moment, "Thank-you," he said quietly.

"No sweat mate," I replied, as he looked at me funny. They never have gotten used to my slang language, so most of the time I just rolled my eyes and continued talking, "besides, it was your genius sister how thought of it in the first place; all I did was sit there and look pretty."

"But you had the idea of putting the rubies in!" Lucy chimed.

"Well I am a mastermind. Haha, just joking," I said, putting my hands up in the air as an act of surrender, "anyway, this is your present from us. Except I got you an extra one," I pointed to a small parcel beside him, so he picked it up and took the paper off it. Inside the paper was a black horse hair bracelet that had been braided and had two tassels at the end of it, so he could fasten it around his wrist. He set the paper on the ground and attempted to tie it, but was failing miserably.

"Men," I said under my breath, "come on Pevensie, I think it's time to admit defeat," I shuffled over to him and took his wrist, "now hold it there for a sec while I tie this." He did as he was told and I quickly tied it in a double knot, leaving some cord to dangle down. There was a black bead at the end of each tassel so that it didn't fray. That, and I like beads.

He thanked me for putting it on him and then we all looked towards Lu. She was so excited about her presents that she looked as if she would burst if she didn't open them soon, so I allowed her to open hers first. She ripped her presents open so ferociously that I thought that she had grown claws in the past few seconds; I didn't even get to see what she gifts she got for a few seconds it had happened that quickly!

From Pete she got a sparkling broach, a map from Edmund and a beginners bow and arrow set from Su. Pete looked disdainfully at the weapons, but the glare he got from Su made him stop looking at the bow and quiver as if it were a poisonous snake. I had gotten the mermaids to craft Lu a hair clip like my one, except that it was a lighter coloured wood. The look of glee on her face was priceless when she saw her presents, and she started to inspect her gifts with the greatest fascination

The sun had begun to rise over the Northern Mountains as I and many others began to open my presents. I opened Su's and it was not one, but two dresses; one was emerald green and covered in beads and the other was red and plain. They were both beautiful, but I preferred the red one ever so slightly more than the green one. I couldn't wait to wear them!

Pete's was next and he gave me a gold signet ring (the others had gotten ones too) with our coat of arms on it. The other one was a sort of toy which had a blue glass ball in the middle with loops of wire around it that spun when you touched them. The strange thing about it though was that the blue ball was hovering in the middle. I poked the wire loops a few more times before turning to my last present, slipping the signet ring into the middle finger of my right hand as I did so.

Ed had gotten me a piece of blank parchment, but when I opened it out, ink splattered across the page and formed lines. I figured out that it showed hallways of the castle, but this map was strange because it showed passageways that weren't on any original blueprints of Cair. That must mean…

I looked over at Ed for a second with a puzzled look on my face. I mouthed 'What is this?' at him. He mouthed back, 'I'll tell you later.' I sat there in deep thought before the toy Pete had got me started to move on its own.

"What exactly does this thing show Pete?" I asked.

"It shows the star patterns. You see, the ball is meant to be the moon, each loop represents a constellation, and stars make up constellations. If you look closely, you can see tiny stones in the metal loops that represent the stars," he explained. I just nodded before going back to poking the loops again.

When I was finally beginning to get bored of poking the 'star-gazer,' I opened Lu's present. Inside the packaging was a beautiful silver chain-link bracelet, "Oh Lu, it's gorgeous! Thank-you so much!" I exclaimed before hugging her and the rest of her siblings for my gifts.

"Well, I'm going upstairs to get ready for lunch," Su said after a while.

"What? That's ages away!" I replied.

"I want to look my best for this meal," she replied before walking out of the room.

"Sounds like someone's excited for Christmas dinner," Ed sighed.

"Or she's just excited for Christmas. This is one of the few times of the year that we're all together, and she probably wants this day to be perfect since it's our first official Christmas together," Lucy said.

"That's very true Lu. Last Christmas kinda sucked with us going to Archenland and everything," I replied. Last Christmas had been an incredibly busy time for us, so we had to cancel our Christmas because our reign was just starting up and everything, and we had ended up in Archenland, making deals and a lot of things that I wasn't allowed to be involved with. Oh well, stuff them.

After about an hour of lazing around, we decided that we should follow Su's lead and get ready. I went into my room and picked out and white dress with silver details and my necklace to match. My necklace was something that I wore all the time, because it enhanced my magical powers, although I haven't performed any acts of magic since the Battle of Beruna for no apparent reason. However, it helped me feel like a part of Narnia, and it was unique. It was silver and an octagonal shape, with a carving of Aslan's face in a mother-of-pearl plate on the front. I thought about wearing a coat, but then I decided against it. None of my coats would go with the dress anyway.

I put my hair up in a ponytail and then I pulled two pieces of hair so that they hung down in front of my ears. It was almost time to go, so I picked out a pair of white flats, checked myself in the mirror and headed down to the dining hall.

* * *

><p>"I could not eat another thing!" I exclaimed, putting my hand over my full belly, "if I ate anymore, I'd explode and you'd have to scrape me off the walls."<p>

"I think that it is time that we excused ourselves," Pete said as he stood up. We thanked the kitchen staff for such a wonderful meal and then decided that it would be best if we went down to the beach to try and burn off some of the calories we had just consumed. Yeah, like that would help; I'd have to be running full pelt on a treadmill for a week to do that! Still, it felt good to get some fresh air after being cooped up in a room that smelt like turkey, potatoes and cranberry for two hours. Ugh, even the thought of the smell of the Dining Hall makes me feel queasy.

I finally got Ed on his own for a while, "So what exactly does my present do?" I whispered in his ear.

"It's a special kind of map that has an enchantment on it. The enchantment allows the map to show any hidden passageway in any building that it's in, but to others it just looks like a piece of blank paper," he explained.

"Oh…well thanks! I'm sure it will come in handy when Lu and I go passageway exploring."

"I knew you'd like it," he replied quietly. A strong, cold wind hit me and because I wasn't dressed appropriately, I shivered.

"Here, you must be cold," Ed says, wrapping his deep green, fur-hemmed cloak around my shoulders.

I laugh a little bit, "That is so cliché!"

"What?" he asks, bewildered.

"You giving me your cloak because I'm cold? It's like, the ultimate act of romantic cheesiness." Romantic? Where did that word come from? Better still, why had I just said it? Sometimes I think that someone else makes me talk stupidly.

"Okay then, I'll take it back!" he says, trying to grab the cloak, but I whisk it away from his grasp at the last second.

"Never!" I shout over my shoulder. I run away from him and it works for a while, but in the end I finally find myself waist deep in water, "okay, okay!" I say laughing, "it's soaking now, it won't help me one bit!" he wades towards me while I take the cloak off, and I fasten the cloak around his neck. Unfortunately, the fastener, well, unfastens itself and I go to do it up again, but then so does Ed. Both my small hands are trapped in his larger ones and as soon as my eyes look into his, something wraps around my ankle. It pulls me away from him, and my foot slips, and cuts itself, on a rock on the sea bed. I fall into the water and then some sort of invisible force drags me far out into the ocean by the ankle, and I fear for my life.

* * *

><p><strong>Edmund's POV<strong>

Three hours. That's how long she's been gone for. At the start I thought it was a sort of joke, but then after a while, it registered in my mind that she's actually disappeared, and…if we don't find her soon, we might not ever.

She might have drowned, her body floating on the surface of the ocean, her eyes unseeing…

No. I won't allow her. I won't allow what has taken her to seize her from me forever. She won't die. I'll find her, her heart still beating, her lungs still breathing, and I don't care how long it takes.

My siblings and I began the search as soon as we figured out that she wasn't playing a joke on us, and at first, we were distraught. However, we quickly regained our composure and spilt up, making sure that we left no pebble unturned as we desperately tried to find her, and as soon as I was running out of beach to search, my heart sank. Maybe…she truly is…de-no, I can't even say it. I won't condemn my friend to death just because there is no more of this beach to look for her on. She could have washed up anywhere, whether it's in Narnia, or somewhere else. Perhaps some sailors will find her floating in the ocean and bring her back safely to us.

I hopelessly searched the Eastern Sea, trying to find a body in a white dress; just a glimpse would fill me with joy. My mind wants it so desperately that I can actually see something in white coming towards me…

Wait. That's not my mind playing tricks on me, it's real! I rub my eyes to make sure that I'm not hallucinating, before jumping into the water without a second thought. I swim out towards her, not caring how cold the water is and the next thing I know is that I'm on the beach once more, holding the unconscious girl in my arms. She almost looks like she's sleeping in them, her head pointing towards my torso, her hands clenched slightly, but then something else registers; she feels like a block of ice.

Her skin is an almost grey colour and her lips are practically blue. I take one look at her, tiny, defenceless and icy cold, and I run, all across the beach, all the way up the stairs, before she's safe in the castle, warm and being taken care of by the healers.

I stand in that room, dripping wet and breathless, watching her unmoving body as the women in white buzz around her checking her for various things. The only thing that registers in my mind is the thing that breaks me out of my dream-like state, "She'll make it."

And my legs finally give way.

**A/N Sorry guys! I had all of the other chapters saved on my memory stick, but it decided to be a Scrooge and wipe all of them off it *cries* but I'm writing like crazy and maybe another update's on it's way! Anyway, don't be a Scrooge and give me a Chrimbo prezzie: a review!**

**Merry Christmas everybody! I hope everybody has a good one!**

**Love from a very Christmas-sy,**

**Xx Elemental Angel xX**


	6. Chapter 5 Goodbye

**A/N Hey guys! So yes, I am posting another chapter after another that wasn't posted that long ago. So you're probably wondering why (or not, doesn't really matter) Well, today's a significant day in my fanfic career-it's the one year anniversary of my author life! Two Kings Two Queens and a Guardian was posted exactly a year from today! Happy birthday story!**

**Review time!**

**princess emma of narnia-Thanks!**

**Milk'n'CookiesBookworm- Aw, you know I love your reviews! I do love Christmas!**

**Heartbeat-Thanks!**

**Mr Blobby's cheesecake-Thank you!**

**Mistletoe-Thank you!**

**MaskedNarnianQueen- I hate memo sticks personally. 1500 words? Ohh…that must have been really bad! **

**angelicdreamer101-Aww thank you so much! I know that I'm not the best writer on this website, but it's nice to know that some people appreciate my work :)**

**Anyway, on with the show!**

**Chapter Five – Goodbye**

**Edmund's POV**

I sat on my knees beside that hospital bed until my siblings finally made it to Cair, "She'll be fine," I repeat, monotonously.

I feel hands on my shoulders and I can see the rest of my siblings crowding around the bed, but I remain focused on her eyes that I need to see blinking once more. But why? Why do I need her so desperately? She's my best friend, but today…something has changed. It's that feeling again, that one I once felt before the Battle of Beruna for her…

I think…I think I love her.

**Rachel's POV**

_I'm in the ocean, underwater and I can breathe. "I can breathe?" I exclaim, covering my mouth because I just spoke clearly underwater._

_"Welcome Guardian. It is an honour seeing you here," a voice says from behind me. I turn around slowly and almost jump because there is a massive head right behind me, "don't be alarmed, I am merely a projection that you can see. I'm not really there with you, but I can see you. I am the Hermit of the Southern March, and I have been told by my friend, another magical being, to give you this." A piece of parchment floats in front of my face and I grab it._

_I study it for a moment and find out that it's a map, "Keep this on your person at all times, for this will guide you back to the island. You will be going there soon," he continues._

_"Thank-you," I say. I am still perplexed by the whole head projection thing, because, well, it's not really something you see in your typical day._

_"It is time to send you back to your friends. I am sure that they are worried about you," he says as he begins to fade away. I can feel myself slowly falling into unconsciousness, before a powerful force propels me back to shore…_

_However, this is different. When it happened in real life, everything went black, but now everything's going white. I don't know what's happening, but when I open my eyes, I see colour. Hold on a sec, what's been going-_

"Rachel!" I hear Lu exclaim. I choose that time to cough up sea water, and when I'm done my throat is burning.

"Whatever I did, don't ever let me do it again," I say with a small smile.

"You scared the life out of my Rach," Ed said. I looked at him for a few seconds to figure out why he was saying that like his life depended on it, "I mean all of us. W-we were all scared for you, not just me obviously," he says with a nervous laugh.

"Ed was the one who found you," Lu said with a huge smile on her face.

"Really?" I ask. He nods his head slightly, "Thanks Eddie," I say daringly. He would never usually let me call him that, but under the circumstances, he smiles at his nickname.

"So what happened to you?" Su asked.

My brows knit together, "I…I don't…know," I finally said, "the last thing I remember was hurting my foot."

"You did more that hurt it," an elderly Healer said, "you've fractured it."

I finally look down at my foot, which is now wrapped in bandages, "Well, this has been an eventful Christmas, eh?" I say light-heartedly.

"A bit too eventful for my liking," Pete says, "come on, let's get you out of here and back to your room." He handed me a pair of crutches (which I thought were unnecessary but they're fun to walk with so…yeah) and we hobbled down the corridor. When we reached a flight of stairs, Ed or Pete would lift me over their shoulder and take me up them.

I finally reached my room and Ed lay me down on my bed gently. There was something different about the way he was acting around me, but I couldn't tell what. Maybe it was relief that I was alive? Anyway, Pete put the crutches next to my bed and Su and Lu hugged me before leaving. It was only four in the afternoon and it was already dark outside! If they hadn't found me by now, well then I probably would've frozen to death. I looked at myself in my bedside mirror and saw that my skin was no longer a grey colour (I had seen my reflection in the windows before I arrived in my room) and some colour was returning to my face.

My hand that had been curled up in a fist unfurled and revealed a piece of paper, the one that the Hermit of the Southern March had given me.

"This is going to be impossible," I whispered to myself.

* * *

><p>A few weeks had passed since I had fractured my foot and most of the bandages were off. During that time I had had lots of time to practice a new skill that my friends, Seb and Juel, were going to teach me since I couldn't help Ed or Lu.<p>

Seb and Juel are my best friends outside the Pevensies. I met Juel first and at that time she and Seb were mermaids, and therefore have some magical powers. They are now human because Aslan saved their lives after they had been poisoned, taking away their tails in the process. The thing they had been teaching me is how to change your hair and eye colour, and at the start, this had disastrous results; my hair turned blue and purple for three days, my iris disappeared for two (yeah, it was fun creeping people out with that) and, to Susan's absolute horror, bright pink for six days, which included a visit from a duke from Archenland. She locked me in my own room and told the duke that I was sick so yeah, fun times.

It wasn't as easy as it sounds though. It takes a lot of focus just to change your hair colour, but it takes a lot more to keep it that way. Eye colour was a lot easier though because there's not as much to change.

I found myself hanging around with Lucy most of the time. Of course, I loved spending time with her, but sometimes I missed having Ed around. Ever since my accident, he hasn't been talking to me a lot for some reason, and I wish I knew why.

The night I had received the piece of parchment from the Hermit, I packed my bag with things I would need; clothes, my Ipod and charger, maps, the lot, just in case I had to leave at a moments notice. But enough about that, it's depressing.

I was walking down a corridor, focusing on keeping my eyes blue. I had been doing this for about two minutes and it was going well if I didn't talk to anyone, which made me lose my focus. A hand clamped down on my shoulder and I squealed loudly, which broke me out of my concentration.

I heard laughing behind me and I whirled around, "Edmund!" I nearly shouted, "you almost gave me a heart attack!" I put my hand over my racing heart and tried to catch my breath.

"That was hilarious!" he said through his laughing, "your face…your scream…haha!"

I thumped him on the arm multiple times, "That so was not funny! You are so mean!"

"Really? I think I'm a comic genius."

I let out a disapproving noise, "Yeah, uh huh, you just keep thinking that."

Ed chuckled, "Well I was just wondering if you'd like to go out to the stables and go for a horse ride, or maybe play a game of chess?" he asked.

I rolled my eyes, "Ed you k now I suck at chess."

"Okay then, horse ride it is."

"But I never said no to it. Let's do both," I said. I figured that since he hadn't been talking to me much these past few weeks, maybe now would be a good time to catch up.

* * *

><p>"I never thought somebody could get worse at something," Ed says, four games later.<p>

I had my index finger on my cheek, concentrating very hard, "Just because I've lost every game," I said quietly, not looking up at him. This game was about to wrap up, so I moved my king out of harms way.

Ed just sighed and moved his bishop, "Checkmate."

"Ugh, not again!" I exclaimed, "I hate chess…" I mumbled.

"I can see that," Ed said, standing up, "Come on, let's get the horses."

"Yay, something I can actually do," I said.

"You were the one who wanted to play."

"Only because you suggested it!"

"Touché." He held his hand out towards me and I put mine in his. I couldn't help but think to myself how warm his hand was; it felt like he had put it in a fire or something. He pulled me to my feet as if I was as light as a feather (which I can assure you that I'm far from it) and we began our walk to my stables. I felt him bump into me, perhaps by accident, but I pushed him back lightly. He turned and looked at me with his smouldering onyx eyes and nudged me harder than I had pushed him. We continued this for a while until I shoved him and ran away laughing as he tried to catch up.

I sprinted out of the castle and towards the stables and quickly mounted Tia. I had just grabbed onto her mane as Ed came in, breathless but smiling, so I kicked Tia gently in the sides and we galloped out of Cair's courtyard and into the green meadows and forests that surround the castle. My hair, which was up in a ponytail, flew out behind me like a sort of tail, and some whipped around my face, and I heard another set of hooves hitting the ground, almost in sync with Tia's. How that boy caught up with us is beyond me.

I saw a flash of auburn beside me and I already knew what it was before I looked at it. I heard Ed yell, "Follow me!" and then he and Phillip took off.

"Let's go Tia!" I yelled. She picked up speed and before I knew it, we had arrived at Aslan's Peak. I dismounted Tia and sat down beside Ed, who was sitting on the edge of the cliff. I let one leg dangle off the edge and brought the other up into my chest, wrapping my arms around it.

"Even though you got a head start, I still beat you," he said.

"No, no, no, you only won because you said 'Follow me,' so I did," I said, imitating his voice badly.

"Sore loser."

"Sore winner!"

"Ah, so you admit it."

"There is no possible way to win with you, is there?"

"Nope," he said, popping the 'p.'

"Well, actually, there is one…" I said mischievously.

"And what would that be?"

"Dancing."

"Oh, you think? I've been practicing for your information."

I couldn't control the words that came out of my mouth next, "Prove it."

"Okay then. Give me your hand." He stood up and for the second time today, held out his hand for me. I put mine in his and he pulled me to my feet, interlocking our fingers and putting his hand on the small of my back gently. I breathed in sharply at the close contact and hoped he didn't hear it as I put my hand on his shoulder. I slowly looked up at him and then he began to move his feet, and I followed his movements. It started off as a slow dance, but then it got faster and faster, with more twirls, spins and more elegant moves. I began to smile and then laugh at the amazing spectacle of Ed dancing, and boy was he better than the last time we'd danced!

I grabbed his hand as he pulled me into one last spin, and I ended up holding his left hand in my right, his right in my left across my chest. I breathed heavily from the exercise but I had enjoyed it, and after while I closed my eyes in his arms. When they reopened, I saw Ed's amazingly dark eyes staring into mine, and we chuckled lightly. But there was something different in his eyes now than there was a couple of weeks ago, and I wanted to know what it was. We just stayed there, him holding me and looking into each others eyes as the sunset over Narnia, and before I knew it, there was no more than an inch between our faces.

"Promise me that you won't go away," Ed whispered. I nodded my head slightly. He moved slowly towards my face and I could feel his breath on my face and then finally, his lips brushed mine for the shortest of seconds. From that second on, I realised that….I have feelings for Edmund Pevensie.

"_Don't do this Rachel. It will only make it harder for you to leave and it will hurt both of you more than necessary,"_ a voice said in my mind.

"I'm sorry Ed, I can't do this," I said quietly. If I had said it any louder then he would have heard my voice crack. Tears sprung to my eyes as I tore out of his grip and towards Tia, mounting her quickly and galloping away. I put my necklace to my lips and blew Ronny's whistle, and a short time later he was hovering over me. I grabbed onto his legs and he pulled me off Tia, who knew to go back to the stables.

Ronny flew me back to my room at an alarming speed and dropped me on my balcony, leaving me alone. It's strange how animals know about these kind of things, like when you need a cuddle or when it's best to just stay away from us.

I threw myself onto my bed and cried my eyes out. I don't think I have cried this hard in a very long time, and definitely not since I became princess. I sobbed for hours, and it was dusk before I finally raised my reddened eyes from the bed.

"Aslan," I said between hysterical sobs, "why are you making me do this? It's too hard for me Aslan, and I can't do this! I can't put up with it! I'm not strong enough…"

"_That is how I know you can do this. You may not think you are courageous enough, but you are; you will always be. I made you princess so that you can do this, and it is your duty to save what must be saved." _A familiar, mighty voice said.

"Aslan?" I asked.

"_Yes, it is I, but I am in your mind telling you this. Go, fulfil your destiny, and all will turn out right. Ask me for strength when you require it, and I shall provide you with it. Trust me."_

I wiped the tear tracks from my face and the tears that had been in my eyes disappeared, "I trust you Aslan. Guide me, help me and strengthen me." After I had said this, I felt utterly calm and collected.

"I'm ready."

At that moment, a large, white eagle flew into my room, and when I say large, I mean almost gryphon-sized. It looked at me with it's incredible amber eyes and I knew it was time. I grabbed my backpack, wrapped a cloak around me and climbed onto the eagle's snowy back.

"Take me to where I am needed," I said to the eagle, "because if I do not leave now, I will not be able to."

The eagle cawed and flapped its wings. I took one last glimpse of my room, before the bird took off into the night.

I never looked back once.

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><p><strong>The next day…<strong>

"Your majesties! You must awaken at once!" A servant yelled outside the doors of the sleeping royals.

"Yes?" a drowsy High King said as he opened his bedroom door.

"It is the princess! She is gone; disappeared without a trace!" he said, breathlessly.

At the mention of the princess, Peter's eyes widened, "Right, awaken the others. We must find her! I will send out a search party. In the meantime, arrange for you and some other servants to ask anybody, servant or villager, if they have any information on her whereabouts. Go quickly!"

* * *

><p>"My kings and queens, it has been a month since Princess Elfin has disappeared and we still have no information about her. Shall we call off the search?" Orieus said.<p>

"No, leave no stone unturned. Send messages to the kings in Calormen, Telmar and Archenland and tell them to begin the search for her. She must be somewhere," Peter said.

"Has it not crossed your minds that she may be-"

"Yes! Every night it has!" Edmund yelled, "and every night I come up with the same answer-she is alive."

"I will send the messages now you majesties."

Lucy sat in a chair bawling her eyes out as her older sister tried to comfort her. She too had tears in her eyes, but for the sake of her siblings she held them back.

"Why would she do this?" Lucy said, hiccupping.

"We don't know Lu, but I can assure you this one thing; she could not, and would not, leave us purposefully. She must be doing something that the rest of us cannot know."

"Or she's been kidnapped," Ed said, crossing his arms and hardening his features as he leaned against a wall.

"Edmund stop it!" Susan yelled.

"Ed!" Pete said sternly, "have a bit of compassion." He pointed to his younger sister.

"She'll get over it, like the rest of us have to." He replied.

"Edmund!" Lucy shouted hysterically.

"Well we can't stop our lives because of what _she's_ done!" Ed said coldly.

Lucy calmed down for a moment, "_She_ has a name. It's Rachel Elfin, and you love her Ed!"

His eyes hardened, "Maybe I did once. Now however is a completely different story." He got up and left the room while Lucy gripped the hair clip Rachel had gotten her for Christmas in her hands.

"It's all I have left of her now," she whispered.

* * *

><p>Lucy finally returned to her room in the early hours of the next morning, still holding the wooden hair clip like her life depended on it. She went out to her balcony and stared up at the bright silver moon and sat on her knees, "Rachel, if you're still out there, please come back. We all need you, Ed and I especially. Come back safely."<p>

A wind blew through the young queen's hair, and she felt an overwhelming peace come over her. Through that wind, she could have sworn she heard a lion's roar and a girl's laughter. She breathed in deeply and from that moment on, she knew that everything would work out the right way, because she knew that it was in Aslan's paws.

"_All will be right when Aslan comes in sight…"_

**A/N Please don't hate me! R&R! And Happy New Year everyone! Oh, and I just want to thank everyone that has read, reviewed, favourited and alerted this story over my first year as a famfiction author. You have given me so much support, amazing advice and laughs! You guys are the best, and I don't know how to repay you all. Well, I hope that next year will be a great year for you all, and I hope to the same amount of support, or maybe if I'm lucky, even more in 2012! Thank-you all so much!**

**Xx Elemental Angel xX**


	7. Chapter 6 Storm Everheart

**A/N *emerges slowly* hey guys *avoids rotten fruit being thrown at me* I know it's been a while since I last updated, but I've been so busy with school and everything…yeah you get the picture. Anyway, I'm dying of the cold right now and can't think of anything else to say so….enjoy the chapter!**

**Reviews time!**

**Clarissa Jackson – Aww! Thank you so much!**

**Dark Tigresssssssssss- Writer's block? *gasps!* I hope I don't get this disease…lol!**

**White-Lily-Rose- I was hoping that you guys would feel kind of sad at the end of this chapter, so I'm glad that some of my readers really get into the story and feel how the characters feel, you know? And thanks so much for reviewing!**

**Purple- Sorry it's a bit late but better late than never!**

**Milk'n'CookiesBookWorm – Lucozade's amazing 3 haha, love your super long reviews as always! I feel kind of mean for doing that to them but y'know, I'm the evil author mwhahaha!**

**Snowcherry98 – Again, sorry for the late update but I hope you'll enjoy this chapter!**

**MaskedNarnianQueen- I know it's late, but I hope you had a Good New Year's as well! Thanks for letting me know you're enjoying the story because it means a lot to me.**

**princess of narnia- he will but it will be verrrry complicated. You'll have to stick around to find out!**

**Just a quick little thing I have to say about the flow of this chapter-everything is being spoken in Telamarine up until the first mention of Spanish words. Yes, I made the Telmarine's speak Spanish, but what other language are they gonna speak? …oh yeah, Telmarine. Anyway, it's a bit confusing but I just didn't want to transfer half the dialogue into Spanish because this chapter would have been even later.**

**Anyway, on with the show!**

**Chapter Six- Storm Everheart**

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><p>It had been two years since Rachel, princess of Narnia and guardian of the Pevensies, had disappeared. Narnia and all of her people were saddened at the loss of one of it's monarchs, but her rulers had been affected the most. The search is on-going, but many have already given up on their princess returning, as they think she is dead.<p>

Peter, who had once loved her, had moved on. He thought of her only as his sister that he was desperately trying to find and he would stop at nothing to locate her; dead or alive. He was the one that had been affected the least, or it seemed like that from the outside. The High King was being strong for his siblings, who had been affected in completely different ways to him.

Susan had been saddened by her friend's disappearance and she had mourned her for weeks after she has first found out that she was gone, but she, like Peter, had moved on for her sake, and her family's. She missed her friend greatly, but she found other 'friends', shallow ones that only cared for themselves and could talk for hours about a poor girl whose hair cut was not up to date, or their dress which wasn't as flamboyant and 'amazing' as theirs when they could hardly squeeze through the door. They could not understand the ways of the world and therefore, were incredibly stupid as a result.

Although it was the two youngest Pevensies that had been affected most by Rachel's disappearance. They both had huge holes in their heart, like their older siblings, but they had healed a lot slower, if not at all.

Lucy would spend hours looking around the castle aimlessly. She still carried out her duties to her people, but sometimes it was hard to remain cheerful in front of those she visited, especially when they asked her about her best friend. She still cried some nights for her friend, and occasionally she was found sleeping in the princess' room. Nevertheless, she never gave up the hope she had for her friend returning to Narnia. And somehow, deep down, something, or someone, was telling her that she would.

Edmund was the worst affected. After discovering that he loved her, then kiss her, then have it thrown back in his face when she took off that and _then_ she disappeared…she broke his heart. But he dreamed about her. Every possible scenario had been played out in Edmund's head starting the night he found out she was gone. When he woke up from them, he felt a strange tightness in his chest every single time. And he couldn't explain why.

His heartbreak had made him bitter, and even when the most gorgeous of women wanted to court him, he said no. Nobody could explain why he could not love, or even tolerate, a female outside of his family since Narnia's princess vanished. Many thought that Rachel's disappearance was just the trigger that made him become like he is today, so the princess' vanishing was not the only reason that he had changed so drastically. One of the few things that could actually make him happy was sword fighting, and a lot of people say that he's even better than his brother.

However, the search for Narnia's princess was making slow progress, as a rebellion was growing in Telmar and parts of Calormen. It had started a year after Rachel disappeared and since then, neither country had asked Archenland or Narnia for help.

Until now.

The Telmarines heard rumours of the princess' whereabouts, and apparently the pirates involved with the rebellion have her on board their flagship, the Creciente Esperanza, the fastest ship in the world and captained by Fernando, with his protégée by his side.

Narnia sent out a fleet of ships immediately, and this is where the story really begins…

* * *

><p>Two men walked into a rundown bar near a Telmarine dock on a large river, where ships imported and exported weapons on a daily basis and therefore it had to be in a secluded location. They sat down on the old, creaky chairs and waited for the barman to come out and serve them. When he did, they sat back and enjoyed their beer.<p>

"Are you new here son?" one of them asked. He was wearing a black uniform lined with yellow with the Telmarine crest over the left side of his chest, and so was the man beside him. They were solider uniforms, and they looked quite new. The barman only nodded and then continued to clean some dirty glasses at the opposite end of the bar.

"Doesn't talk much does he?" the older man said to the younger one.

"Nah, don't think he does," the other man said, taking a sip of his drink.

"I'm sick of this weather!"

"It's not just the weather I'm tired of; it's the taxes, the way nearly every healthy man has to join the army now and the stupid rebellion! You woulda thought that they'da caught them by now."

The older man stood up, "I'll admit that the rebellion is a pain in the neck, but what they're trying to achieve…don't you think that they're things we want as well?"

"Don't say anything more about it otherwise people will begin to think that you want to join the rebels."

"I know, my entire family will be called traitors if I do so, but I'm just saying that the rebels have a point. I don't think any of us want to pay these taxes, or see teenagers leaving their homes to join the army."

"Let's just stop thinking about it. It makes me feel uncomfortable," the younger man watched as his fellow soldier slowly sat back down, and by that time he had a question for him, "you've told me about Fernando and his ship, but tell me…who is his protégée?"

The older man, who had almost taken a sip of his beer, set it back down on the wood in front of him, "Not many people see the Creciente Esperanza and live to tell the tale, and even fewer have seen members of his crew. But his protégée…only one person who was in a stable state of mind has seen her and he told me about her.

'Eyes the colour of thunderclouds, her hair wavy and the colour of flames, yes, can't you imagine it? Small in stature, but don't let that fool you; she isn't Fernando's protégée for nothing. A great swordswoman trained by her captain, she could be a match for quite a lot of men. Her name…is Storm Everheart."

"Does she have a weakness?" the younger man asked.

"Well my dear boy, of course she does! Everybody has a weakness, including pirates. I hear whispers here and there about her, and apparently she is not very strong physically. There are definitely more, but I can't think of any more at the moment."

A hooded figure came into the bar, water dripping off them. The figure sat down and began to whisper to the barman, who nodded and left the room. The men did not notice the figure in the corner, the top half of their face half in the shadows. A stray lock of red hair escaped the hood, but then it quickly vanished as the person tucked it behind their ear.

"Say, where did that barman go? I need another beer before I can go out in that cloudburst again. Do you know where he is?" the older man asked the hooded figure. The person just shook their head silently.

"Charming," the younger man said under his breath.

A strange scent began to waft through the bar. It was not an unfamiliar smell, but it was because it was a smell that you would not think of finding in that location.

"Do you smell that?" the older man said.

His friend began sniffing the air, "I do but what is it?"

Another moment passed and then it clicked in both of their minds, "Smoke."

"Smoke…"the older man mused before his eyes widened in alarm, "we've gotta get out of here now!" They both jumped out of their seats and ran to the door, opened it and then stopped dead at the sight that lay before them.

All seven of the huge ships in the dock were on fire, smoke and sparks rising into the night sky.

"Run!" One of the men cried. They began running up the grassy hill that the bar was situated at the bottom of before the wind changed direction and with it, the smoke. Neither soldier could see through the dangerous mist and they fell to the ground, coughing and spluttering when out of the smoke they saw a silhouette approaching. The wind began to change direction once more and they saw the hooded figure from the bar in front of them, their facial features still in the shadows.

"Who are you?" the younger man asked.

"You might recognise me," the figure replied, taking down their hood. In front of the men lay the very woman that they had just been talking about.

"S-Storm Everheart?" the older man stuttered.

"I thought you'd recognise me. Oh, and thanks for letting me know that my 'fame' is spreading," she unsheathed her blade and began to study it while the men began to quiver, "now, are either of you going to be stupid enough as to try and fight me?" They shook their heads dumbly, "Good! And are either of you going to tell anyone about me?"

Again, they shook their heads, "Well then, you are free to go as long as you do not attempt to put out that fire. If you did, you'd get blown sky high with the amount of explosives that are in those boats," she began to walk away from them but then said over her shoulder, "just a bit of advice for you both," and then she was gone, swallowed up by the haze of smoke.

The two men had barely stopped shaking when the first boat exploded, sending wood and weapons into the air. They looked on in shock and horror as the seven other boats began to blow up, each one exploding a few seconds after each other as if it were a chain reaction.

As soon as the explosions stopped, the Telmarine soldiers ran away from that place, not daring to look at the carnage behind them.

**Storm's POV**

* * *

><p>"Everybody get back on board the ship now!" I heard a gravely voice say.<p>

I spun around towards the direction of the voice and began to follow the many members of our crew back to the Creciente. We had three ships in our arsenal and we could have a fourth within a week, but only one was required for this mission.

"Fernando, what is wrong?" I asked my captain. He would only tell us to board the ship if something was not going to plan, but I couldn't see any sort of danger in this area.

"There is an unidentified ship on the horizon Storm. It could be the one that you need to board."

"What? It couldn't be…"

"If it is, they will stop at nothing to get you. Storm, you must act as if you don't wish to be their prisoner and you must not reveal anything until you reach _them_." I merely nodded in return. He was the only one who knew my true intentions because after what I witnessed in Telmar last week, these people who want to capture me must know about it.

"Take the wheel. You must be in full view if it is the ship. Remember what you must do," he said, taking me by the shoulders and guiding me towards the ship's stern. I placed my hands on the smooth wood of the steering wheel and felt my heart begin to race.

Fernando let go of my shoulders and said in my ear, "Just know that…I consider you my own flesh and blood. Good luck, my daughter."

"And to you, my father. Get out of here as soon as you can and then await the signal."

"Do you wish for me to send him up?"

"Please. Just so I may say goodbye."

He nodded at me slightly, "Hoist the sails! We have got to get the heck out of here! Ready the cannons!" he called out in his captain-voice. I would miss him a lot, but I knew that I would see him again. Even though he was in his fifties, he could move around as if he were a twenty-five year old, and with the strength of one too.

I saw his long grey-streaked black hair disappear as he put on his tricorn hat and head down the stairs to the deck. He ordered a man to push us away from the shore with an oar since everybody was now on board. When the crew member did this we were off, sailing across the sea and towards the ship, which could possibly catch one of the most elusive pirates ever to sail on the world's waters.

* * *

><p><strong>Third Person<strong>

"Fernando, can you see the insignia on the ship yet?" Storm asked her captain. He had come back up onto the deck so that he could try and see what country the mystery ship belonged to.

"Yes," he said, holding the telescope up to his eye, "It's them."

Storm took out a leather bag from her jacket, "It's in here. There is no way water could destroy it."

"Good. You will need to show it to the rulers."

A young man came up the stairs that lead to the cannons. The staircase was in the middle of the ships deck and it was usually covered by a large metal grate unless we were preparing for battle, like now. He was quite good looking, with tanned skin and dirty blonde hair, but he only had eyes for one girl, and that was Storm. They had been a couple for just over three weeks, when he finally plucked up the courage to ask her out after a year and a half of knowing her. He was the ships doctor, and his name was Gerardo.

He came up to the steering wheel and he put one of his hands over hers, "I'll leave you two alone." Fernando said, disappearing below the deck.

"So what were you and 'Nando talking about?" Gerardo asked her.

"Oh, nothing much. We were just joking around, like we always do."

"Good! For a second there I thought you were talking about something really important!"

"Dear 'Rado, what important thing could he have possibly been telling me?" she lied smoothly.

"Just be careful out here, especially when that ship passes by. I've got a bad feeling about it." He took her cheeks gently in his hands and kissed her forehead before heading down to the deck, leaving her blushing ever so slightly.

And that's when the ship shook violently.

Storm, who hadn't been prepared for it, fell to the ground. She managed to get to her feet again, but the Creciente Esperanza trembled again. The flame-haired girl looked to her left and there was the ship they had been trying to sail past, firing cannonballs into the hull of Fernando's mighty ship. They were coming thick and fast, and by now the pirates were retaliating.

Storm slid across the slippery wood, trying to get back up on her feet and get to the wheel, but when she tried to get up she slipped and fell, not just down onto the wood on raised platform that the wheel was located on, but down a flight of stairs. Twelve bumps later, she lay on the deck for a while as she had been winded by the impact of the fall.

"Well, that's gonna hurt in the morning," she groaned. When she stood up again, another violent tremor hit the boat and she fell backwards over the side of the ship and plunged into the water below.

The water was freezing cold, and luckily Storm knew how to swim. When she broke the surface, a loud cry stopped the cannon fire on both sides.

"If you give us Storm Everheart, we will stop firing our cannons and let you go. We only want her," a man yelled from the other ship. It was the captain, but Storm could only assume that it was since she was in the water, wedged between the two ships. They were only twenty metres apart, and if they had a full blown battle it would end with one sinking and the other maintaining serious damage.

Fernando, who was on now deck, looked sadly at his protégée because the decision lay with him, the captain. To everybody's surprise, he nodded and the entire crew on the opposing ship burst into yells of victory.

"What?" The entire crew on the Creciente Esperanza said in disbelief, all looking around at each other and at Fernando. The man in question stood on the starboard side of the ship, resting his hands on the wooden banister that ran around the sides of the ship. He looked as if he had just gone deaf and blind since his decision, and he stood looking at the water were his protégée was treading water. They exchanged looks that no-one else saw, and then two burly men joined her in the water. They grabbed her arms and at the start she did nothing. A few seconds later, she realized the grip on her shoulders and began to scream and shout for her crew.

A few ran to the side of the Creceinte and were going to jump into the ocean to save her, but all Fernando did was hold his hand up and they immediately stopped. The pirates were not used to a situation were they were powerless, so they could do nothing but sit back and watch their captain's protégée be taken away.

Strom felt immense pressure on her shoulders. Her legs quivered and she fell to the deck, cutting her knees as a result. The pirate's head flopped towards the ground and her hands were in chains.

The captain of the ship bent down to her level, looking at her intently. As if she could feel the power in his gaze, she looked up at him with slowly with a set jaw and fire in her steely eyes.

"We have her!" the captain announced proudly, putting his fist in the air and hearing his crew jeer and chant, "now we must deliver her safely to our rulers, get our money and return to our families."

A man's voice came from the ocean, "Storm! Storm!" he cried. His face was barely illuminated by the light coming from the ship and he looked exhausted.

"Gerardo! Obtener salir de aquí!" **(Gerardo! Get out of here!)** The female pirate yelled.

"¡No! No voy a dejar que te lleven de mí!" **(No! I won't let them take you from me!)**

The captain looked down at the man in the water like he had just inhaled an unpleasant smell. He turned to one of his crew members and said, "Get me a spear." The crew member turned around and got a spear, its razor-sharp head glinting in the light of the lanterns.

The female looked up and saw the captain with the weapon in his hands before realising what he was going to do, "Gerardo! _Gerardo_!" she shouted hysterically.

"Knock her out and take her below deck. You know where," the captain said sternly. The men hoisted Storm to her feet as she shook her head in confusion from side to side. A few strangled cries came from her throat before the realisation of the situation hit her like a tonne of bricks. She twisted and turned her body in the arms of the men, biting and kicking and eventually freeing herself from their grip. She ran across the deck and was about to jump into the water before somebody drove the butt of their sword into the back of her head, knocking her out cold.

* * *

><p><strong>Storm's POV<strong>

Pain. That's all I could feel. My head throbbed and every so often a flash of white-hot pain burned through my skull, causing my vision to blur and black spots to pop up every so often.

I was in a tiny room that was definitely meant for prisoners. The walls, the floor, the ceiling…everything was damp. There was a little porthole that I could have barely put my two fists through if there hadn't been bars in front of it. There was nothing in this room except for a pile of my own vomit in one of the corners. The smell in this cell was almost overwhelming, and every time I thought about I contributed more it the vomit pile.

My hands were in chains and fortunately, they weren't behind my back. My legs, however, had been chained and tied to the wall beside the door, which was large and wooden and had three small metal bars in a hole in the wood that was meant to be a window. My back was against the back wall underneath the porthole and my legs were sprawled out in almost foetal positions. Sweat, bruises and dirt covered any visible skin and the blood from the cuts on my knees had been smeared all over my shins.

So in other words, I looked a right state.

I had had a fever ever since I woke up the first day I woke up in here. I couldn't figure out why this fever has come on so suddenly, but right now that was the least of my worries. I mean come on! I've just been captured by soldiers and being taken back to a country that surely hates my name. What have I ever done to them? Sorry, what have the pirates and I ever done to them? The worst part is that I won't just have one or two sets of eyes on me when I go to the palace, oh no! Lucky ol' me will have four. Yep, you guessed it, I've been taken by Narnians.

With all of my willpower I managed to pull myself up to the porthole and look out of it, or more specifically, the sun. It took me a few seconds to find it and then when I saw it's position, I judged the time to be around five o'clock in the evening. It was the spring time so the sun shouldn't leave the sky for at least four more hours. However I wasn't concerned about what time the sun went down; it was when it came up that bothered me. For I knew that tomorrow, lives would be changed because of something that I have.

Because I, Storm Everheart, protégée of the most feared pirate ever, holds the biggest secret in the world right now.

Yeah, so that is _pretty_ big if you ask me. However it's not the thing I am most anxious about. You see, this is the thing about pirates; they always have secrets ready to spring on you, and I am no exception.

I finally let myself slump to the floor once more and I was lost in my thoughts for a while. My eyes became heavier as the sun moved across the sky and as it began to set I was out cold.

"We're nearly home lads!" a voice cried. The shout woke me up and brought my sleepy mind back to reality. I dragged myself up to look out of the porthole and I saw that it was nearly midday, and the river was leading into Narnian territory. Something stirred inside me, and I couldn't figure out if it was fear, anxiety, excitement or all three.

I always knew I would come back here one day. After twoyears at sea and being able to escape any government, any source of a higher authority, it is a welcome sight. My fellow pirates and I-sorry-freedom fighters have started an uprising in Calormen and Telmar due to the fact that the taxes they have to pay are insane, men are being forced to join the army and a war, unknown to any Archenlander or Narnian, is being planned to conquer these two countries. Half the world versus half the world…everything will end if Narnia and Archenland don't hear about this 'secret' war. However, when I say 'unknown to any Archenlander or Narnian' there is one exception. Me. And I intend to save my country.

But now, I view my country from a dark, damp cell, locked in chains as if I were a criminal Well, I am interpreted as one, since I am a 'pirate' as such . Little do the Narnians know that I could be their saviour.

The ship had travelled along the Telmar river and into the Great River, around the Frozen Waterfall, past the Fords of Beruna and at the mouth of the body of water lay Cair Paravel. The wind picked up and we were sailing faster than ever, and before I knew it the ship was docked beside the great Narnian landmark.

"Time to meet your maker, pirate," a faun smiled at me dirtily. I spat in his face after he said this and he growled at me before removing my shackles, making sure that he caused me more pain than necessary in taking them off. He forced me to my feet and put one of his hands on my shoulder; the other held a sword that was digging into my back.

I remained silent and emotionless as I walked onto the deck and the bright sunlight almost blinded me. I was forced to me knees again and my hands were tied in front of me as the captain gave an inspiring speech over my capture. In fact, it was so inspiring that all of the crew members took their turn in spitting on me, mocking me and pushing me over as I walked across the beach to the castle and when we got to the stairs that led to the castle, only the captain and first mate continued walking with me towards it. My fever was getting worse and worse with each passing minute and beads of sweat were breaking out on my forehead.

After many stairs we reached the castle courtyard. My legs burned with the effort of walking, but I still remained emotionless. The gates were shut but a servant let us in, and she was beaming. She ran off to tell the kings and queens about my capture, although not before telling pretty much everybody on her way, causing everybody to look at me with disgust. I just kept my eyes fixed in front of me and before I knew it, I was on my knees before Narnia's monarchs in the castle's throne room, the captain and first mate's footsteps retreating from the hall.

I sat there for what felt like an age, my eyes focused on the golden marble floor.

"Do you speak English?" I heard a voice say. I looked up, but I couldn't tell which one of the had asked me that question, "I repeat, can you speak English?" I saw the High King's lips move.

"Yes."

"How well?"

"Better than you think I can," I said, looking at him with a sort of 'of-course-I-do-you-idiot' look on my face.

"Don't speak to him like that!" a high-pitched voice wailed. My eyebrows raised in confusion from this comment and I tried not to burst out laughing. I turned in the direction of the voice and saw that on the throne beside the dark-haired king, a platinum blonde-haired girl not much older than myself was sitting there. On her head a small white crown with roses and crystals on it.

"Forgive me for asking, but who exactly _are_ you?" I said.

Her jaw literally hit the floor, "Have you not heard of me?" she said, her voice getting higher in pitch with each word.

"Excuse me for being rude," I said in my sweetest voice, "but why would I even ask you that if I knew who you were?" my voice changed to one of pure boredom with a hint of cheekiness.

"Petey! She's being mean to me!" the platinum blonde wailed.

"Oh shut up!" I said through a sigh.

"How dare you!" the oldest queen said in shock. I looked over at the youngest queen who was looking at me strangely. I winked at her, which made her even more confused.

"Sorry, you majesty," I said, bowing, "it must be my _pirate_ manners coming through."

"It's okay darling, we'll have her sorted out in no time," Peter said to the blonde. She giggled and then looked coldly at me. And then it clicked.

"Ah, so you two must be courting?" I asked. They both nodded and I looked over at the blonde, "really, High King Peter? Really? I must say that the lights are on but no-one's home if you catch my drift."

"Just tell us what we want to know!" the dark king shouted at me.

"And what would that be?" I said slowly and quietly after a brief pause.

"Oh you know all to well what we want to know," he replied coldly.

"As a matter of fact, I don't," I said with a sigh, studying my fingernails.

"The princess! For the love of the Mane, the flipping princess!"

"Ah, you mean her…" I said, my voice filled with realisation. I looked over at the blond on the fifth throne, "you clearly liked her, since you gave her throne and crown to someone undeserving of the title."

"Excuse me!" the blonde gasped.

"Yes excuse _you_," I replied with anger in my voice, my eyes fiery, "and don't pretend like it isn't the truth. That throne was given to Narnia's rightful princess, and you give it to _her_! You gave her something that wasn't yours to give away!"

"I am the High King. I am Narnia's superior ruler and I control what happens here," he said, his voice haughty. He looked at me, his hands clasped together and his facial expression slowly becoming stony. His back made contact with the back of his throne once more and his hands lay of the arms of it, "Why am I telling you these things? You're nothing more than a pirate," he spat.

I shook my head in disbelief and said in a quiet voice, "Oh Pete, how wrong you are…"

"You will call me your King!"

I continued speaking, "What's happened to you?" my gaze became steely once more, "there is only one being in this world that I will call my King. I thought you once knew him, and were like him, but I guess…I was wrong." I said quietly.

"Just tell us where she is and we will sentence you to a quick death instead of a long, painful one."

"You wouldn't," I said through a sigh.

"And how do you know that?"

"Well unless you can contact the dead, then I wouldn't be much use to you, would I?" I replied smartly. The king growled and clenched his fists, and the left corner of my lips turned upwards slightly in a smirk. I got to my feet, which took a lot of effort because of my fever, and started pacing in front of them.

I pointed at the blonde girl, "You. Out. Now." I gestured towards the doors at the back of the Great Hall with my thumb, which took some co-ordination since my hands were in shackles.

"You can't tell me what to do!" she screeched.

"I can't, but he can," my head turned lazily towards the High King, and he looked confused. I took a deep breath and walked towards him, the heels of my boots clicking against the marble floor, "if you want a _scrap _of information from me, _she_ has to go." I raised my left hand to my mouth and began biting the small amount of nail on my ring finger.

"Petey-"

"Darling, just do as she says." I tried not to laugh as she gave me a dirty look and with one flip of her hair she was out of the throne and walking towards me. She stopped beside me for a minute and she stared at me for a moment with that disgusted look on her face, but I gave her a smile and a small wave of goodbye. She had walked a few steps before I said, "Oh, and leave the crown." She rolled her eyes and took it off her head and placed it into my now extended hand.

As soon as the door closed I whirled around to face the Pevensies, "Now, take these chains off my wrists. They're pinching my skin."

They looked at me as if I had two heads, "Oh come on! Do you really think I'd be that stupid? If I even touched a hair on your head a battalion of soldiers would be in this hall in a second," they looked around at each other, "Well?" I asked, shaking the chains a little bit for emphasis. The High King got up and inserted the key into the holes and they fell away, "Ah, that's much better." I rubbed my wrists and wiggled my fingers. The blonde-haired king studied me for a moment and I leaned away from him slightly, "what?"

"Nothing," he said after some time, a perplexed look still on his face.

"Right anyway, the princess. Quite a nice crown we've got here, isn't it? It's a shame you gave it to the blonde though."

"We didn't give it to her she just…took it," the elder queen clarified.

"And the throne as well?" she nodded, "well then, we're going to have an eensy, weensy problem then aren't we?"

"What do you mean?" the dark-haired king asked.

Another smirk played on my lips, "Oh Eddie, I'm so disappointed in you. I thought you would have been the first to figure it out, but I'm afraid you've lost your touch."

"Wha-hol-ho-wh-what?" he stuttered.

I nodded my head towards the younger queen, "She's figured it out. Well, she has a suspicion."

"Hold on a minute, 'Eddie'?" he asked.

"How do I know that nickname? Well dearest Eddie, it was I who gave you it." I raised my hand to my leather tricorn hat whilst they exchanged puzzled looks.

"Who are you?" the dark king asked.

I grinned slightly and threw the hat high into the air.

"What?"

"No!"

"It can't be!"

"Impossible…"

"Holas mis amigos locos."

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><p><strong>AN Okay, slightly confusing chapter, but did you figure out Storm Everheart's big secret? Who she really is? Hope that last line helped you figure it out…**

**Anyway, as always review! I love reading them and again, sorry for the delay. This story might have long breaks in it every now and then because of school bla bla bla…**

**Who is excited for the Hunger Games movie? I am overexcited at the minute! I hope they get everything right and it's not a disaster…otherwise the director will have to answer to thousands of fans on why it failed (which hopefully it won't!)**

**Adios!**

**Xx Elemental Angel x**


	8. Chapter 7 Always on your toes

**A/N Sorry for the late update guys, but I've been busy and I don't think you could be bothered to read the whole story of my life so I'll just continue. So, For this story I would like to reach over sixty reviews in the next two chapters, so that averages out as six per chapter. However, knowing you guys that should be no problem. I'm not saying that sixty is our target, it's just I hope that we'll surpass it by, what, chapter nine? Well anyway, review time.**

**angelicdreamer101- Aww, thank you so much!**

**Mr Blobby's cheesecake- I know, but it was meant to be slightly confusing. But I'm glad you figured it out in the end.**

**Rocking Robin- Well, here's more of this story!**

**Blade- Yeah, it does need more action. But the story's only just beginning to warm up!**

**Pandora Hermione Everdeen- I'm continuing writing, AND I KNOW YOU KNOW HER SECRET. Hehe, update your story soon by the way!**

**White-Lily-Rose- I'm super sorry it's late, but at least it's here! I feel so mean when I leave the chapter on a cliffy, but it's so much fun!**

**Clarissa Jackson- Thanks for saying you like this story! I know it's not great, but I enjoy writing it.**

**Oh, and who has seen the Hunger Games? I saw it last Friday and thought it was AMAZING but not as good as the book, like almost every book-turned-movie. I'm so glad it's done so well though!**

**On with the show!**

**Chapter Seven- Always on your toes**

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><p>Untameable black hair fell down my back and my eyes returned to their natural colour. I still held my crown so I put it on my head, "Ah, back where it belongs," I sighed. Then I thought about it being on that girl's head, so I took it off and began cleaning it with my sleeve. I looked up and saw their astonished faces, "Well? Aren't you going to say anything? Geez, you've been away for two years and not one person can say hi. That's love guys."<p>

"You-what-huh?" Susan said.

"Don't get yourself stressed Su, it causes wrinkles," I said. Her hand flew up to her cheek before she figured out what she was doing and lowered it.

"Rachie!" Lucy yelled, jumping up off her throne and running down the stairs towards me. She wrapped her arms around my body and I almost flinched at the contact, before doing the same thing to her.

"I've missed you Rachie!" she said beaming.

"I've missed you too, Lu. You've gotten taller haven't you?"

"Yes! I've grown over a foot and a half since you last saw me," she broke away from me and started bouncing on the balls of her feet, "I told you! I told you all that she'd come back! Oh I knew it was you when you started talking!"

"Lucy if you weren't a queen, you'd be a detective," I smiled down at her.

"And your earrings as well!"

"My earrings?" I asked, perplexed, "oh, I know what you mean now! Yes, I've been wearing all six of them for a few months now." I had two piercings in the lobe of each ear and two tiny hoops were in them. The other was halfway up my left ear and a bronze stud was in it, and the last was another silver hoop in the top of my right one.

"Could you please explain what's going on here!" Susan shouted.

"Well, it's pretty clear isn't it? Rachie's home!" I exclaimed, lifting my arms above my head and spinning on the spot. A wave of nausea hit me straight afterwards from my fever, and my body temperature was getting hotter and hotter.

"Yes but why? Why did you leave? Where did you go?" she asked

"Well that can be explained later, but right now there is something you _have_ to be informed of. It also concerns Archenland, but we can cross that bridge when we come to it." I reached inside my coat pocket (it was leather and came to the top of my thighs) and pulled out a square-shaped black air-tight box.

"I hold in my hand at this very moment the most dangerous secret in the entire world," I opened the box and a piece of alien technology fell out of it: my Ipod, "I'm aware that you might have heard about an intruder in the Telmarine Palace last week, yes? Well this is why…" I turned it on and went to 'Videos.' I opened up the most recent file and held it out in front of me, the volume up full blast. There were three solid lines across the picture because I had been recording this from behind a metal grate.

"_I've told you so many times before! We have to get rid of those pirates before we can proceed with our further plans!"_ the Telmarine king said in the video. The Pevensies had gathered around my Ipod and were watching it with great intensity.

"_Yes, but you and I both know that we cannot catch them. They have they fastest ship in my world for goodness sake!"_ A dark-skinned man with a crown on his head said.

"That's the King of Calormen!" Peter exclaimed.

"Yeah, he's in on it too," I replied.

"In on what?" Susan asked.

"I'm not just showing you this video for the good of my health am I?" I said. She gave me a cold glare, thinking I hadn't noticed it, but a pirate sees everything.

"_Well then we must build one that is faster!" Gustavo said, raising his voice._

"_It would be too suspicious. They would find out about it from one of their allies and they would eventually hijack that one as well."_

"_Then that leaves us with one option; Narnia and Archenland must become involved with this. We would capture them in double the time and then our plan can continue without any distractions."_

"_Yes, but what of Narnia's lost princess? Couldn't we start a rumour that she is being held prisoner on the Creciente Esperanza?"_

"_That it incredibly devious of you King Conrado. I will send a message to Narnia and Archenland at once, and our only obstacle will have been moved out of the way to the path of world domination."_

"_Assemble you army Gustavo! Prepare them for battle and we shall be the only two rulers in the entire world!"_

_A sound echoed in the background of the video, "What was that?" Conrado asked._

"_Somebody is there!" Gustavo hissed._ Then the video ended.

"What does this mean?" Susan said quietly.

"It means that Calormen and Telmar have an alliance. They are planning to invade Narnia and Archenland at any time, and if I hadn't gotten this information then-"

"They would have planned a surprise attack." Edmund said.

"Exactly, and that is exactly what they're going to do. Archenland and Narnia have to unite and fight them otherwise we don't stand a chance."

"How do we know that this is true? Not some sort of set up to make Narnia look stupid?" Peter said.

"You really think Aslan told me to do this to make his own country look stupid? So everybody else can stand back and laugh at us?" I replied.

"Aslan told you?" Pete said, his face puzzled.

"Yes. It was when he was telling us about what our duties are when we became rulers."

"And Aslan knew this was going to happen?"

"He must have."

"Well then why couldn't he have warned all of us about this?"

"I don't know," I answered lamely.

"So this isn't a lie?" Pete asked. I nodded in response, "and that's a promise?"

"Pete when can you ever remember Aslan or myself lying to you? In fact, why would I even make this up? For my own enjoyment? That's repulsive. People are going to die Pete, and I'm not going to carry that burden on my shoulders. So, either you tell Archenland and get ready to fight or you might just choose to not believe me, in which case you would have every single lost life on your shoulders, not mine. I came to warn you, but I can't make you believe me. "

Silence fell in the Great Hall. And silence stayed.

"I believe her Pete," a small voice said.

"Lu this has nothing to do with you," Peter replied sharply.

"Peter!" she protested.

"Oh come off it Pete! She's fifteen now; not exactly a little girl any more," I said.

"She's still my little sister and she will _not_ have any part in this."

"Oh so she's always just going to be sitting on her throne like a china doll while the rest of us our away fighting? She's growing up and not even you can stop that."

"She's too young and that's final."

"Well I'm only a year older than her and I've been travelling around the world with a bunch of pirates! It's her kingdom as well Pete."

Peter sighed and rubbed his temples, "This isn't the time for this. Right now, the thing I'm most concerned about is how we're going to explain to the world that Narnia's princess has returned."

I snorted with cold laughter, "Oh yeah, that's gonna be easy, 'She was just going around on a pirate ship for a year blowing up ships and breaking into palaces.' That'll do down like a lead balloon."

"Do you have a better idea?" Edmund shot back sarcastically.

"I will when we come to it. I always think better on the spot," I said, lolling my head slowly towards Edmund, giving him a 'this-discussion-is-over' kind of look.

"All that aside, Rachel where have you been all this time?" Susan asked me.

I walked up the stairs to the thrones and towards the incredible stained glass window behind me. I gently lay my hand on it, looking out of the wavy, multi-coloured glass, "I was fourteen when I left here. Two long years…it's March isn't it?" they all nodded.

"Two months and I'll be seventeen, that'll be fun won't it?" I smiled at them before turning back to the glass, "So Pete, Su and Edmund are suitable for courting now. Huh, next year it'll be me. That'll be a show to see, eh?" I said to myself.

"I left here on the back of a white eagle who took me to an island far out in the eastern Ocean. I'm sure I have the map somewhere, but that's not important now. The eagle brought me to a man, a magician called Coriakin. There I studied my heritage, but most of the time I was meant to be doing magic. It was there that I discovered that my magic fluctuates."

"What do you mean 'fluctuates'?" Susan asked me.

"My power comes mostly from Aslan, and since he hasn't been in Narnia for a while my power has its up and down days. Anyway, I also learned that because my power fluctuates, I can go weeks, even months without it and then one day I could wake up and I would have such a power surge that I can't even control it. I stayed with Coriakin for just over a year, and that's when I became involved with the pirates…"

_I ran up the hill towards the old magician, "There's a ship on the horizon, Rachel."_

"_A ship? Are you sure?" I asked breathlessly._

"_Yes. Using my powers I can see the sail and I do not recognise the insignia."_

"_What do you think this means?"_

"_It means that we must evacuate the Dufflepods from the village. Drive them out towards the caves on the northern side of the island and then return to the mansion." _

"_I'll get there as fast as my legs can carry me," I replied. The setting sun cast a golden glow across the island, making everything look as if it were ablaze._

"_Oppressor's assistant! Oppressor's assistant!" the last cries died away as the Dufflepods hopped towards the caves. I waited until the very last one of them was out of sight before I started running back to the mansion. It was getting darker now and the only things that were still illuminated were the bottoms of the clouds sparsely spread across the sky._

_Coriakin was standing in front of the mansion and the door was open, "Get in quickly! They'll be on our shore any minute now!" I hurried into the mansion as he began reciting the incantation to make the house invisible. A few minutes later, he entered the house. He walked in normally, but then he stopped dead, looking into space. He staggered forward for one final step before falling to the ground._

"_Cori!" I yelled. The look on his face told me that he was having a vision. I knelt down beside him and put my one hand on his shoulder and the other on his upper arm, "what can you see?"_

"_Fire…the village…the forest…Dufflepods…" he whispered, the same vacant look on his face._

"_Cori what do you-" I started before it clicked. There's going to be a fire that's going to destroy the village, the forest, and the Dufflepods. Cori knew that they didn't like him because he could make them invisible with a snap of his fingers, but he was highly protective of them and he doesn't want any harm to come to them._

"_Rachel," Cori said breathlessly, "don't call me Cori." He slowly got to his feet and grasped my shoulders, "you must get the intruders off the island, otherwise-"_

"_Coriakin, I know."_

_He nodded at me and clapped twice. Instantly I was wearing a shirt made of thin strands of metal. It was lighter than chain mail and almost as strong as it, and it came to my mid-thigh. A black undershirt went underneath the metal and a quiver of arrows was on my back, and my legs were covered with a pair of black leggings stuffed into tightly-laced boots. Coriakin put a long black cloak around me and I pulled up the hood._

"_How are your magic levels?" he asked._

"_Strong enough to knock a few men flying."_

"_Do not kill Rachel. Maim if you must."_

"_I'll do the best I can."_

_He opened the door for me, "Good luck." My boots made no sound as I walked across the tiled floor and out the door, and I instantly took to the trees. I put a pair of fingerless gloves on and climbed up the trunks of numerous trees, surveying the area. It was almost pitch black, but I knew the difference between a silhouette and a lone Dufflepod, mainly because Dufflepods hop and scream 'Oppressors assistant!" at me._

_I was on the ground again, making my way towards the village when I heard a twig snap. It definitely wasn't an animal, but by the Mane it sounded close. I ran for a few meters before scaling a tree and searching for movement, and that's when I smelt it. I was too late._

_I saw the smoke rising into the air and the glow of the flames over the hill. I plucked up enough courage to leap to the next tree with an arrow in one hand. I plunged the arrow into the trunk and slid down for a few metres before my feet touched a branch. I jumped two more trees before my feet finally hit the ground and that's when I saw the village. Fearsome men were setting fire to the small wooden houses that belonged to the Dufflepods, and that's when I threw the first arrow. I saw the tip sink into a man's shoulder and his yell cut through his comrade's yells. _

_I took several more out and they ended up either in a leg or an arm. I was so caught up with what I was doing that I didn't realize somebody creeping up behind me, and when I saw them it was already too late. One hand covered my mouth and the other lifted me off the ground and guided me towards the men, and I was thrown onto the ground. Immediately the men swarmed around me, some were pulling out my arrows and others just smirking deviously. My hood still covered my head and face so they had no idea what I looked like._

"_Who are you?" the man who grabbed me asked. I turned and looked at him and by his appearance, I assumed that he was the captain. His voice was tinged by a Telmarine accent and I began to wonder-if they were from Telmar, then why didn't their ships' sails adorn the insignia for their country?_

"_I'd ask you the same thing," I said quietly._

"_We come from Telmar. Now tell us, who are you?"_

"_If you come from Telmar then why is the mark on your sail not the bird?"_

"_I see you are vigilant. We are rebels that come from both Calormen and Telmar and we are trying to start an uprising."_

"_That's a valuable piece of information to be giving out," I replied flatly._

"_It doesn't matter. I hardly think that there is anybody here to pass this knowledge on to."_

"_Oh you'd be surprised," I said, looking at the village. The fire was beginning to die out, but it was spreading towards the forest._

"_There is nothing you can do to prevent the destruction of this village."_

"_Again, you'd be surprised."_

_His eyes flashed with something I couldn't quite register, "I would very much like to see if you can stop these flames." His English skills were advanced, but a little bit limited._

_I waved my hands up towards the sky, focusing on only the fires in the village and them being put out, and images of flames being extinguished flashed through my mind. When the images stopped, the fires were no more than smouldering piles of ash. The both the village and forest was safe from what could have been an inferno._

_I lowered my hands and the rebels stared at me. One man began speaking very quickly in Telmarine before charging at me, sword in hand. I dodged out of the way but then tripped over my own feet and fell on the ground, and by the time I recovered the rebel was charging towards me again. The world went in slow motion and I covered my face with my hands and then there was a flash of green light. I opened my eyes to see what the light was, and I saw that the light had come from me; my magic reacting before I could. The rebels lay groaning on the ground and that was my chance to escape. _

_I got up and ran towards the forest, jumping over logs before-_

"_Oof!" an exposed root had wrapped around my foot and had caused me to fall rather painfully. My ankle felt like it was burning coal in a bucket of ice-cold water, and I couldn't bear to look at it because I knew that it was twisted at a sickening angle. _

"_Ella está aquí!" I heard a man shout. I tried to run but my ankle gave way and I fell onto the muddy forest floor once more. I glanced behind me and saw shadowy figures moving in the distance, and panic gripped me. I dragged myself across the ground towards a large tree trunk and hid behind it, hoping that the rebels wouldn't find me._

* * *

><p><em>I was wrong.<em>

"_You really think that you could hide from us?" The captain smirked at me. They had found me just two minutes ago and already the entire crew had gathered around the tree, swords drawn._

"_Get away from me!" I cried._

"_You really think that we would let someone as powerful as yourself run away from us? And with that bad ankle as well? We aren't that stupid."_

"_Well what do you want from me?" _

_His eyes twinkled, "We need help in our rebellion. I think that you could be that help."_

"_But I've only just met you!" I exclaimed. A deep ringing started in my ears, working its way up to a majestic lion's roar and I went into a sort of trance. _

"_Aslan?" I asked. There was nothing but darkness in the place I'm in right now._

"_Hello, dear one. We do not have much time." I could only hear the Great Lion's voice in this place._

"_What should I do about these rebels?" _

"_That is what I'm here to tell you about. Go with them, for it is the next step in your journey."_

_So many things went through my mind at that moment. I wanted to ask him about so many things, but by the time I was able to form words, I was back in reality._

"_So? Do you accept this offer or not?"_

'_Well it's very sudden, but if Aslan said I should accept then who am I to disobey him?' I said to myself, "Yes. I accept."_

"After that Fernando helped me become a whole different person. He helped mould me into Storm Everheart and the rebellion began," I turned around and faced the Pevensies, letting my hand slide off the stained glass window, "and I'm sorry that I had to leave, but if I hadn't then where would we have been?

I saw Edmund clenching his fists and his face was suddenly stony, "You know if you have something to say, say it," I told him.

"Well yes, I actually do have something to say," he snapped at me.

"Calm down there mate," I replied, putting my hands out in front of me defensively.

"Breaking into palaces? Running off to join a rebellion? Mate?" he almost spat, "that's not the Rachel I knew! She wouldn't have gone off and killed people, or eavesdropped on other people's private conversations!"

"I did what I had to," I replied monotonously.

"You aren't the girl who I once considered my friend. You've changed."

"What do you expect me to do?" I sighed, throwing my hands up in the air, "I've seen people being killed because of what they stood up for. I've killed those who have threatened my existence and what for? Narnia's safety, _your_ safety. I've risked my life for two years to bring back this one crucially important piece of evidence, and right now Edmund, you're throwing it all back in my face."

"You're making it sound like we've done nothing while you've been gone. We too have put out lives on the line in driving out the remainder of Jadis' forces, while you've been sailing around in your silly boat blowing up villages!" he shouted at me. His face was two inches away from mine and a look of disgust was plastered on his face. He may have been a foot taller than me and stronger than me, but that didn't mean that I was powerless against him.

_Slap._

The sound reverberated through the Great Hall and the Pevensies' jaws dropped. Edmund remained emotionless after I my hand had hit him across the face, and my jaw instantly tightened. I poked him forcefully in the chest with my index finger, "Stop making such a big deal out of this. I know that the things I've done are wrong in the eyes of many people, but I'm trying to make you four understand that I've done them to save blood being spilt. And we may be 'pirates' but we don't go around attacking unarmed, powerless villagers; it breaks the rebel's code of honour."

I turned away from him and said quietly, "I'm not the only one that's changed Edmund." An uncomfortable silence fell across the room before a knocking sound came from the door at the opposite end of the hall.

"Put your wig on Rachel," Pete hissed at me. I rushed over to it and tucked my hair up under it, went down on my knees in front of the thrones and Lucy tied my hands behind my back.

"Enter," Peter said when his siblings were seated in their thrones.

A servant entered into the Great Hall, "Your majesties, we have just received a message from the Kings of Telmar and Calormen." Suddenly, my fever intensified and I could barely keep upright. My vision began to blur and a pounding sound entered my head.

"Yes and what is it about?" Pete asked calmly, despite what he had just heard about these two kings.

"They have heard about her capture, and are on their way here."

"Why are they coming here?" he asked the servant.

"Did you not know? They issued a decree at the beginning of the rebellion in their countries that if a rebel was ever to be captured, anywhere in the world, the rebel was to be executed."

I closed my eyes and let out a breath that I did not know I had been holding. I heard a few of them gasp and when I opened my eyes, all of theirs were on me.

"Immediately." The servant continued.

The fever overcame me and I fell onto my side as unconsciousness whisked me away.

**A/N So…who likes cliffies? I know you guys don't hehe! Anyway, make my day and review!**

**Xx Elemental Angel xX**


	9. Chapter 8 Safe?

**A/N Words cannot describe how sorry I am for not updating. GCSE's have taken over my life and summer's been really busy and I've had a major case of writer's block. So, I am so sorry for the long wait. But better late than never, right?**

**This chapter is dedicated to Dark Tigresssssssssss for being a great friend, and xX LadyLilliana Xx for giving me that one review just a few days ago which reminded me that I have to write and update this story, so thank you for that it just goes to show what reviews can do for an author! And this chapter's also dedicated to anyone and everyone who has waited for this chapter to be uploaded. Thank you for your patience!**

**Review time!**

**princess of narnia-unfortunately I haven't been able to update as quickly as I would have liked to, but hopefully you'll enjoy this chapter.**

**Mr Blobby's Cheesecake-I KNOW RIGHT?! I just had to be mean….hehe!**

**Dark-Tigresssssssssss-I'm glad you enjoyed that chappie, and I can't wait to see what you think of this one!**

**Ziggy Jiggy-I'm keeping it up!**

**White-Lily-Rose-….I am so sorry for leaving you hanging for so long…but hopefully this chapter will make up for it! Thank you so much for reviewing…it means a lot to me.**

**xX Lady Lilliana Xx- Once again, thank you for reviewing as I was going through a major bout of writers block…your review made all the difference for this chapter!**

**Anyways, on with the show!**

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><p><strong>Chapter Eight-Safe?<strong>

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><p><span>Third Person<span>

All the Pevensies apart from Edmund rose to their feet when they saw their friend slump to the floor, "Thank-you. You may leave us now," Peter told the servant, coolly yet quickly. The door at the end of the Great Hall closed and Lucy was immediately at her side.

"We have to get her to the hospital wing, and quickly!" the young queen cried.

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><p>"This fever is strange your majesties. I have never seen one so…powerful," the Healer said worriedly.<p>

"Should I go and get my cordial?" Lucy asked.

"No, for that is only required for injuries my queen. We shall do our best to heal her, even if she is a pirate." Lucy felt enraged by this comment, but she managed to keep her anger under wraps for her friend's sake.

"As soon as she can open her eyes, send her straight to the dungeons," Edmund said.

Although this was necessary to say because it would raise suspicion if he didn't, he said it a lot more forcefully and coldly than what was required. This earned him three looks from his siblings: a cold one from Su, an exasperated one from Peter, and an upset one from his youngest sister.

"What are her chances of recovering?" Peter asked.

"As I said my king, it is very powerful. I haven't come across a fever like this before, and her body isn't really giving her much of a fighting chance."

"What do you mean by that?" said Susan.

In response, the Head Healer they had been talking to merely pulled up the unconscious girls' sleeve and her shirt halfway up her abdomen. Lucy's eyes almost popped out of her head as she saw how frightfully thin her friend was.

"Most pirates have incredibly bad diets, and this girl was no exception," the Healer clarified.

"I think we've seen quite enough. Thank-you for your time, but we'd better get back to work. Let's go," Peter turned and left the room, his siblings following in his wake.

As soon as they were out of the hospital wing, they immediately began to talk.

"Have you seen how skinny she was? Rachel would never do that to herself, at least not deliberately!" Lucy said loudly.

"Shh!" Susan said harshly, "do you want the entire castle to know about…_Storm_?"

"We may as well because as soon as the kings of Telmar and Calormen get here, she's dead," Edmund added.

"Ed!" Peter said in frustration, turning around and facing his brother.

"Well it's true! How on earth are we going to kill Storm Everheart, and still have Rachel Elfin?" his siblings fell silent at his words, "she's dug herself this massive hole and she's going to have to find her own way to get out of it."

An uncomfortable silence fell on Narnia's monarchs.

"You're all forgetting one important thing, one so important that I can't believe you've all forgotten it!" Lucy said quietly.

"And what is that Lu? What could we _possibly_ have forgotten?" Edmund almost shouted. Normally his sister would have flinched, but she stayed put.

"You're forgetting Aslan."

Edmund opened his mouth to retort but the arrival of a servant interrupted him, "Your majesties," he said bowing, "I bring you news on the kings of Telmar and Calormen."

"Yes?" Susan asked.

"They will be here in less than two days if all goes well at sea."

"Thank-you. You may go." The servant bowed once more and then left, leaving the four siblings exchanging worried looks.

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><p>Lucy finally got to bed in the early hours. It had been an incredibly busy day, especially when her eldest brother had to go and tell Orieus to start preparing the army for battle. He had done it discreetly, saying that the army should always be ready for battle if it ever arose. She didn't know much about what was happening with the army, only that it was going to train harder than it usually did.<p>

The thing that worried her most was the fate of her friend.

Rachel was making no improvement whatsoever and she knew that it worried not only herself, but her siblings as well. She had been shocked at Edmund's reaction to finding her even though he had been in love with Rachel, and she couldn't quite understand why he was acting like he was. True, he had changed over the time Rachel was missing, but what had made her brother so bitter towards her was beyond Lucy.

The truth was, Rachel broke Edmund's heart, along with severely hurting her own. He was the hardest one to leave behind for her, closely followed by Lucy. Even though she made the right decision in leaving Narnia behind, it wasn't the easy choice.

Lucy was walking around her room before something golden caught her eye. She went over to her dresser and there it was-the lion-shaped clasp from her cape. It was no ordinary clasp, for it was the one she had worn at her coronation, when life was peaceful. She held it between her forefinger and thumb before a strange feeling came over her. She went down on her knees and said, "Aslan, I know that this was all in your plan for Rachel to do, but now it seems like we're going to lose her just as we've found her again. I know that my siblings don't think that you can help them, but I'm putting all of my faith Aslan in you. Please help Rachel in ways that I can't, and help my siblings as well."

Immediately Lucy felt as if a weight had been lifted off her shoulders. She knew that everything was going to turn out the way it was supposed to.

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><p>It was dark in the hospital wing. A Healer checked up on StormRachel every half an hour, but apart from that there was no activity.

A Healer had just completed her routine check on Rachel when her motionless body moved for a few seconds. Her back arched and her mouth opened wide, but her eyes remained shut. In her mouth a ball of white light was beginning to form before her body flashed white for a split second. The ball of light grew bigger and bigger until it was too big for her mouth, and was released from it and floated there for a second. Her body then returned to its original position, as if nothing had happened at all. The light then flew out of the open window and into the night, flying through the dark sky.

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><p>"She hasn't moved yet. Not a single sign of life except the rise and fall of her chest," the Healer said.<p>

"And the foreign Kings will be here within the day," Peter said.

"There's nothing we can do for her. Even if she hasn't woken up, she'll still be thrown off Aslan's Peak," Susan added. Lucy looked solemn.

"You alright Luce?" her eldest brother asked.

"I'm fine," she replied quietly.

"Where did you say Ed was, Pete?" Susan inquired.

"Out horse riding somewhere," Pete said.

"He's been doing that a lot lately," Lucy mumbled. Her siblings just looked at each other.

"Anyway, is there any improvement in her health?" Susan asked the Healer.

"Well, she has been-"

"I'm going to my room," Lucy said, cutting off the older woman. Again, her siblings just looked at each other.

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><p>Lucy flung herself onto her bed, before feeling something under her body. She got up and looked at it, and it was a piece of parchment with one word on it. <em>'Safe.'<em>

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><p>"There's nothing we can do, Peter!" Susan yelled at her older brother, "she's as good as dead."<p>

"There has to be something!" he shot back.

"We've gone through this a hundred times! We can't find any loop hole," Susan said, defeated. Her shoulders slumped and she put her hand on her head, "and we've only just found her again," she said in a small voice.

Peter's eyes looked glassy as he went and hugged his sister, "It'll be okay Su."

"No it won't! I didn't…we didn't…get to say goodbye," she replied, putting her hands over her nose and mouth as of she was about to pray. Her voice got smaller and smaller with each word, her throat tightening up.

A knock sounded on the door. Both of the eldest Pevensies quickly composed themselves as a servant entered, "Your majesties, the ships of the Kings of Telmar and Calormen are on the horizon. Her execution will be at sunset." The servant quickly left and Susan's hand flew up to her mouth once more. Usually she wouldn't have allowed herself to get this upset in front of any of her siblings, but it was just getting too much for her.

"We'd better tell the others," her eldest brother said, wrapping his arm around her.

"Yes. Then we should go and say our goodbyes," Su said quickly, "now, if you don't mind, I'll be in my room," she said in a steady, quiet voice, before quickly walking out of Peter's study. The High King then sat down on a chair, his knees unsteady.

"I think I've just signed our princess' death warrant," he said hoarsely.

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><p>"Come on Lucy, you have to say goodbye quickly," Susan said, her hand on her younger sister's shoulder.<p>

"I-I can't Su. Knowing that I'll never see her again…I feel like ice. And all we're doing is standing back and watching those foreign kings smile to each other after she's been sent plummeting to her death, because now their stupid war will be able to happen! She's nothing but an obstacle to them, when she's really a monarch of this country, who risked her life to warn us!" She began to make strange hiccupping sounds and tears welled up in her eyes, and when they tried to comfort her she pushed them all away and went out of the room. Edmund left the room at the same time, remaining silent the whole time with an emotionless expression on his face.

"They're here your majesties. You must prepare for tonight," a servant said from behind them. To make matters worse, there was a celebration party in the Great Hall after the execution of which they all had to attend.

"Thank-you," Peter said. Susan reached over her friend's body and tucked a lock of Rachel's hair behind her ear, before trailing her fingers down the girl's stone cold face.

"Only Aslan himself would be able to rescue that girl," a Healer said, who had just come into the room.

"Yes…he truly is the only one who can save her life," Peter said, before leading his sister out of the hospital wing.

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><p>Lucy walked behind her siblings, Peter at the front as he was talking to the kings of Calormen and Telmar. The sun was about set as they walked up the hill towards Aslan's Peak, which overlooked the Eastern Ocean. At this time of day the view was usually marvellous, but Lucy thought that tonight it wasn't as beautiful as it usually was, as if nature knew what was about to happen. The motionless body of her best friend was being carried by two centaurs behind her, the pirate's body bound with thick rope and a large weight at her feet.<p>

Peter seemed calm, when inside he was troubled. There was no way he could save the pirate now unless he wanted to ignite the war on Narnian turf. He knew that if that happened, they would lose their alliance with Archenland, and their odds would decrease from fifty-fifty to twenty five-seventy five. He also knew that Rachel had sacrificed a lot to bring him a warning about the assembling armies of Telmar and Calormen, and that sacrifice did not just mean her true identity, but her own life. And that hurt Peter every time he thought about it.

He would not allow Rachel's sacrifices to be wasted by saving her life and allowing the war to commence prematurely, costing more lives than necessary. _She_ wouldn't allow herself to be saved and many others killed because she was still alive.

Susan, like her older brother, was calm. Although, she didn't think she would be able to watch her friend plunge over eighty feet over a cliff and into the churning waters below. And her younger brother Edmund, well, he was keeping his distance, like he had been over the past two years, although it had become more apparent in the last few days.

"Safe," Lucy chanted inside her head. But safe from what? That message could have been about anything, but she didn't care. When you're in the kind of situation that the young queen was, as dire as it seemed, you grasp onto any sort of hope you can by your finger nails.

When they finally reach the place of execution, the Telmarine king began to speak, "We are gathered here to witness the execution of the pirate Storm Everheart, for charges against the government of both Telmar and Calormen in assisting the beginning an uprising. Your further crimes include abducting the princess of Narnia, stealing, breaking and entering, stealing, vandalism and murdering. Do you confess to these crimes?" he asked the silent body of the pirate, her heading hanging loosely towards the ground.

To the Pevensie's surprise, she lifted her head up and began to talk, but her eyes remained closed, "I admit to these crimes," she said, almost robotically.

"She confesses! Piracy is punishable by death in Telmar, and I'm sure that the Narnian kings and queens would not disagree with me," the king said, looking at the monarchs intently, sending them a message through his look.

"Yes," Peter said quietly.

"So we will continue! Any last words, pirate?"

Her head turned towards the Narnian kings and queens, "Don't feel guilty. Safe."

Lucy's eyes flashed with realisation, but thankfully nobody else saw her reaction.

"Let us continue," the Calormen king said.

"Yes," the Telmarine king said. He beckoned for the two centaurs that were holding the pirate's body to come forward, and they held her over the edge. Her eyes never opened once, and her body fell slack again. A nod from the kings of Telmar and Calormen and the centaurs let go, her body plummeting down towards the ocean. Even eighty foot above the sea, a sickening crack was heard as her body hit the water, her red-haired form disappearing under the waves. Lucy tried not to look desperate as she searched for her friend, but she couldn't find her. The two foreign kings were celebrating, whereas only Peter could manage a weak smile.

It was all a blur after that; they walked back to the castle, prepared themselves for the celebratory ball over the death of one of the most wanted pirates in the world and endured several days of pain, each sibling feeling different degrees of hurt. But they had to move on with their lives, and a few weeks later they had just about managed to clear the last hurdle of pain.

However, none of them noticed the shadow watching them from afar.

Nothing's ever set in stone in Narnia, is it? If it was, well, then there wouldn't be a story to tell, would there?

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><p><strong>AN So yeah, another cliffy….gotta hate 'em, gotta love 'em. Anyway, I hope this chapter keeps you guys going for a while…its might be a while before before the next chapter comes up…but review! As I said before, it makes all the difference to us authors to know what our readers think! And if you're an author yourself, you'll know what I mean. So yeah….reviews are nice.**

**Until next time!**

**Xx Elemental Angel xX**


	10. Chapter 9 Miss me?

**A/N Words cannot describer how sorry I am to all of you for this late update. But anyway, happy new year! I hope you all had a great Christmas. Here's the next chapter!**

**Review time…**

**angelicdreamer101- I'm sooooo sorry for the late update, but I hope you enjoy this chapter! I love your reviews-they make me smile!**

**Milk'n'CookiesBookWorm-Yeah, reviews are like food and water-they keep us going! We live off feedback. I love cliffies too! I know, I feel sorry for Rachel too…I love your reviews though! They're such lovely comments, and I love the fact that you generally give me quite big long ones too **

**XxPeppermintzxX-Aww! *wipes away your tears* hehe! I'm so glad that you get so into my story **

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**Sparkling Rose- Here's your update!**

**On with the show! **

**Chapter Nine- Miss me?**

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><p>Rain cascaded from the dark grey clouds that covered Narnia's sky. The water droplets practically bounced off the ground as they hit it, and the land of Narnia was saturated from the incessant rain that had been pouring down for the past few weeks. A small figure emerged from Cair Paravel and ran outside toward the stables, their cloak hoisted above their head so they wouldn't get soaked. As soon as the person entered the stable door, they removed their cloak and approached a stall which held a stunning black horse and gryphon within it.<p>

"Queen Lucy, how are you today?" Tia asked the young queen.

"I'm alright thank-you," the young queen said as she sighed, "just confused, that's all."

"Do you wish to talk about it?" the horse asked her.

"No," Lucy answered as she opened the stable door and stroked Tia's shiny coat.

There was a long period of silence before any of them spoke again.

"Did you see my brother today?" Lucy asked the horse and gryphon.

"Yes, he came in early this morning and took Phillip with him. Nothing strange," Ti answered.

Ronny's eyes however, had glazed over and were staring into the distance. His ears perked up, and the expression on his face was one of shock, confusion, and utter surprise, "It can't be..." he whispered in disbelief.

"Ronny, what is it?" Tia said, concern lacing her voice.

"I-I'm sorry, but I have to go," he said. With three powerful wing beats, the gryphon had flown out of the stable and had taken to the open air. Lucy and Tia exited the stall and went to the entrance of the stable, watching the gryphon streak through the air, the golden form soon vanishing over the horizon and leaving the horse and queen looking onwards with confused expressions.

Neither of them noticed the rain stopping.

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><p>The rest of the day went slowly for Lucy. The weather outside had brightened up a little bit, but Lucy had no intention of going outside and instead indulged herself in a good book. She took her book and a blanket up to the west tower. The west tower was furnished to be like someone's living room: two medium-sized sofas, a bookcase, two armchairs, a fireplace and a table were arranged on top of a light green carpet with darker green accents. It was plain, but that's why Lucy enjoyed spending time there, and it was quiet because hardly anybody went there.<p>

Lucy entered the circular room and was slightly surprised to see Edmund sitting one of the window ledges, looking out of the glass pane in a dream-like state.

Lucy, unsure of what to say to her brother, closed the door behind her quietly and settled down on one of the sofas, lying across it so her head was on one of the low armrests and her feet rested on the other one. She hadn't talked to Edmund in days, and Lucy noticed that the number of conversations they had were getting less frequent and shorter, and he rarely spoke to Su or Pete. The thing was, the four of them rarely saw each other and had 'family time' as each was busy or just couldn't be bothered speaking with anyone else.

Lucy sighed at this thought. It wasn't easy for Lucy to have her family like this, especially since the arrival of Alexis just three months before. None of them were close anymore, and Lucy detested it. Not only did she have no-one to talk to, but she was beginning to feel less and less happy, not just due to the events of a few weeks ago, and the secret war was starting to loom over Cair. Life was becoming boring and depressing for the young queen, and she needed a way out. Reading was one of them, and she quickly lost herself in her book.

Lucy heard her brother moving from the other side of the room and she finally found the words she wanted to say to him, "Ed?" she called to her brother, sitting up to look at him.

Ed looked over to her, "Yes, Lucy?" he said, too formally for her liking.

"Do you…do you still love us?" she asked her brother quietly.

Edmund look slightly startled at this question, his eyebrows knitting together in confusion, "Of course I do, why?"

"Well then why do you never speak to us then?"

Edmund opened his mouth to speak, but no words came out. His mouth opened and closed before he finally spoke, "Lucy…I don't think you'll understand."

"How do you know? You haven't told me why, so what makes you think I won't be able understand?"

Again, it took her brother a few moments to find his words. Instead of speaking, he merely came over to his sister and kissed her forehead. He made to leave, but Lucy jumped to her feet.

"It's because of Rachel, isn't it? She left you and hurt you, isn't that right?" she said. Her brother stood still at her words, "you'd only just discovered your feelings for her and then she disappeared, and you never understood why," Lucy said, advancing towards her brother until she stood in front of him.

"Lucy, stop," he said in a quiet voice.

"But now you know why she left," Lucy continued regardless, "and you know she did it for us. For Narnia. For _you_."

"Lucy, stop," Edmund repeated more loudly this time.

"Ed, just listen to me, just this once, "Lucy said pleadingly, "if you had one more chance to talk to Rachel, if she hadn't _died_ to warn us, if she was alive…would you at least try to become her friend again? Would you make the effort?"

"Lucy, I don't know, I was so hurt-"

"Ed," Lucy said, cutting him off, "your immediate reaction. Yes or no?"

Edmund tried to get past his sister, but she blocked him.

"Lucy, I don't have time for this," Edmund hissed at his sister.

"Edmund James Pevensie," Lucy said in a deadly voice, "yes or no?"

Edmund pondered over this for a few moments and opened his mouth to answer, but-

"Your majesties!" A breathless servant said, bursting into the room, "the most amazing thing has happened this day! The most unbelievable event has occured!"

"Yes and what is it?" Edmund asked irritably. Lucy went over to a nearby window and gasped.

"Edmund, you might want to see this," she said.

"Not now Lu! Tell me what it is!" he nearly shouted at the servant.

"It's the-"

"Rachel!" Lucy exclaimed, a smile reaching from ear-to-ear present on her face. Lucy bounced up and down in pure excitement and glee at the sight of her friend, flying past the western tower, holding onto Ronny's leg and standing on his claw, her hair whipping behind her in the wind. Edmund was completely shocked to say the least and his mouth was open slightly, before his sister pulled him down the staircase by the hand and towards Cair Paravel's entrance, running as fast as her legs would carry her. Edmund ran to keep up with her, but there was a pain in his heart over Rachel. He felt numb all over, but his heart felt different to the rest of his body.

'What is going on?' he asked himself as he and his sister sprinted around the castle halls at a speed that could rival that of a cheetah.

Lucy felt better and happier than she had for weeks, whereas Edmund…well, he wasn't exactly sure, especially about his last encounter with Rachel when they hadn't exactly had the warmest of conversations-in fact, they'd been rather cold towards each other. The fact was, he was rather torn over the issue; he could either try and make an effort, hate her or just make no interaction towards her at all. Edmund wasn't worried about the situation, he was just extremely confused over how to deal with it.

Little did he Rachel felt the same way about him.

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><p><strong>Rachel<strong>

Ronny soared over the walls of Cair and made a sharp left bank to turn us towards the entrance of the castle. I clung on tightly to his leg as he did so, but even that couldn't wipe the wide grin off my face. I was alive. I was home.

Ladies and gentlemen, Rachel Elfin is back in town.

Wind caused by Ronny's powerful wings whipped around me as his claws touched down on the cobblestones of Cair's courtyard as we faced the great oak doors which protected the front of the castle. I jumped off Ronny's claw and onto the ground, inhaling a deep breath in through my nose and taking in the beautiful palace. I really had missed this place despite everything that's been going on, and I was ready to get stuck back into palace life, assume my role as princess and prepare myself for the upcoming war.

Well, I was ready for everything except the war. But then again, is anyone ever ready for something like that?

My booted feet moved towards the castle door, clicking softly against the damp cobblestones. The door opened from the inside and before I could even wonder who had opened it, I saw a small figure in a blue dress running towards me.

"Rachie!" Lucy cried, her legs propelling herself towards me.

"Lu!" I shouted back. My arms opened to embrace the girl and as her body met mine, my back met the ground. We stayed like that for a while, our arms wrapped tightly around each other.

"Oh Rachel, I thought you were dead!" Lucy said, her voice choked with tears.

"Lu don't cry, I'm here," I said as our arms let go of each other and we stood up, "and I'm never going to leave again." I stroked her hair as we went into the castle, noticing that-

"Lucy, you're taller than me now," I said in astonishment.

Lucy giggled, "Yep!" she said, popping the 'p', "I'm five foot and five inches now."

Yeesh. Way to make me feel short. Lucy Pevensie, a year younger than me, was three inches taller than me now. Legs, this would be a nice time to start growing!

Lucy draped an arm around my shoulder and I did the same to her, having to reach up slightly because of my height. _Curse you legs! _We walked through the door to Cair and the one person who I was most worried about seeing again was standing directly in front of me, his arms folded and his dark eyes emotionless. My feet wouldn't move after I saw him, and my brain tried to formulate the right way to greet him. After all, our last conversation wasn't _exactly _one I'd like to remember.

"H-hello Ed-_mund_," I spluttered stupidly. He scoffed at me and smirked, but it wasn't a nice smirk. It wasn't an Edmund smirk.

"Edmund…" Lucy hissed at her brother.

"Lucy don't even bother," I said, anger bubbling slightly behind my voice. If this has been a few weeks ago, I would have been angered at this immediately; I couldn't control my temper. However, over these past few weeks a couple of Narnians had been helping me to control it, along with finding me after I miraculously escaped my death sentence. How I had done so however, I have no idea whatsoever, "if he wants to speak to me, let him. If he wants to be a stubborn mule, let him. It was nice to see you Edmund," I spat, walking past him and bumping into his shoulder slightly.

I heard Lucy whispering furiously to her brother, but I blocked out whatever she was saying. My eyes were fixed on my next destination-the Great Hall. Two fauns stood outside it, obviously guarding it. They only did this if something important was occurring inside it, which meant Peter would most likely be within the Hall. Perfect.

"Sorry miss, but you can't go in there," one of the fauns said as I came to the door.

I merely looked at him, "I think you'll find that I have every right to go in there." I smiled slightly as the realisation registered on his face, but I didn't stay behind to hear any sort of exclamation of surprise from the faun. I gently pushed one of the doors open and entered the Hall, quietly making my way towards the table at the front where two men and a centaur were discussing things in a low murmur. I saw Pete was facing me, but his head was facing the table, and a black centaur and the other man formed a wall in front of him, preventing him from looking up and seeing me approach them.

"…we must get someone in behind the palace walls!" the dark-haired man said to Peter. "They could find out information for us and report back to us, giving us an advantage!"

"And what if they were caught?" Peter retorted, obviously unhappy with the idea, "it's too risky! Hardly in Narnia has even seen Telmar, never mind the inside of its palace! We'd have to find someone who's seen the palace, who knows what its like, for that idea to even form. And they'd either be incredibly stupid or incredibly brave to even think about doing this for Narnia anyway."

"Well, there's always me," I said, my voice echoing around the Hall, "fortunately for you, I'm both incredibly brave and stupid."

The three of them looked towards me, first in confusion, and then in deeper confusion. Their facial expressions were priceless.

"Rachel Elfin reporting for duty, Pete!" I said, saluting him, before bringing my hand down to rest on my hip, "I hope you didn't miss me too much." My normal smile (one showing most of my teeth) graced my face. Pete shot to his feet and stared at me in disbelief, standing still for a few moments before walking out from behind the table.

"Is it...is it really you?" Pete asked me as he studied my face.

"No, it's Prince Rabadash," I replied sarcastically, "of course it's me you daft banana!"

A wide smile took over his face as he took three long strides towards me and picked me up, spinning me around until I felt dizzy. I held onto him tightly as we spun, and both of us were laughing until he set me down.

"Rachel! I can't believe-oh come here!" he said, picking me up and spinning me again. I smile, feeling happier now than I had in a long time.

"So you didn't miss me too much?" I said with a smirk.

"How did you…how are you…of course I missed you!" he manages to say as I laugh at him.

As soon as I had taken one step away from Peter a sword's blade was at my throat.

"Oreius, what are you doing?" Peter exclaimed, putting his hand on the centaur's blade, "put your sword away now before you hurt her!"

"Imposter," Oreius growled at me, applying more pressure on to my neck due to his blade.

"Oreius, what are you talking about?" Peter asked, his jaw set in anger.

"Rachel's meant to be aboard the Creciente Esperanza, kidnapped by pirates," Oreius said, turning his head to face Peter as he said this before turning to face me with fire burning in his eyes, "this is an imposter."

"Really Oreo?" I said, and his eyes widened, "quiz me on anything, anything at all, and I'll prove to you that I'm Rachel Elfin, the real deal."

"How did you escape from the pirates?" he asked me.

Crap. How on earth was I meant to answer that? I couldn't just tell him outright that I was Storm Everheart, who had been sentenced to death a few weeks previously. I hesitated before coming up with my answer.

"They let me go."

The centaur raised one eyebrow at me, "They just…let you go?"

"Yep! The news of Storm Everheart's death reached them and they no longer had use for me, so they let me go," I said, staring him dead in the eye. It wasn't a complete lie, they had let me go; Fernando did at least. He knew what my destiny was, so he had let me do what I needed to.

Oreius looked into my eyes intensely for a moment before letting out a small 'hmm.' He moved his sword away from my neck and sheathed it before asking me my next question.

"Show me your necklace," he said, knowing that this was the deciding question. I merely pulled down my shirt collar to reveal the octagonal necklace that was half an inch in diameter.

"Proof enough for you?" I asked before tucking my necklace away once more. I hardly ever took it off, and in this situation, I was glad for it.

"Welcome back, princess," Oreius said. He may have put his sword away and backed away from me, but I could tell that he was still wary of me. I didn't blame him at all. I knew that this would happen because of my sudden reappearance and that many more people would be doubtful, but I didn't care. I came back to help my people, my friends and the Pevensies.

"It's nice to see you too Oreo," I replied, "you couldn't have welcomed me back in a better fashion."

The dark-haired man cleared his throat. The three of us turned to face him and I immediately recognised him.

"King Lune," I said to the usually jolly man.

"Princess Rachel," he said in his deep, warm voice, holding his arms out to embrace me, "it's good to see you again."

We hugged briefly before I replied, "It's good to see you as well."

"So, back to what we were talking about before," King Lune said, putting his hands together and walking towards the table once more. The three of us followed him.

"Rachel, you can leave now," Oreius said firmly.

"I'm not leaving," I replied, "it's my job to assist Peter, and I will assist him."

We looked at each other, a battle of strong-wills emerging. We both wanted to see who would break first.

"Oreius it's fine, she can stay," Pete said, resuming his seat at the table. I noticed that rough notes and maps were scattered across the table's surface, and judging on the conversation they were having before I entered, they were all linked towards the upcoming war, "but I have to ask you Rach-you are fine to do this? You're just back and everything."

"Yeah, I'm fine! I'm bouncing to get back into action," I replied.

"'Bouncing'? You aren't 'bouncing'," Oreius said.

"Oh…" I said. Throughout my stay on the Creciente, I'd picked up on some pirate ling. 'Bouncing' means that I'm positively 'bouncing' to get back into my old routine. It just means that I'm really excited," I explained.

"Right," Oreius said, dragging the word out with a weird look on his face. I shrugged it off.

"So anyway Rachel, these last few weeks we have assembled both of our armies and they are training as we speak," Peter began, "Oreius is aware of the war now."

"Obviously," I muttered.

"Our armies together have the power to defeat the Telmarine-Calormen forces, but we don't know for sure," he continued, "we were discussing ways of trying to get an advantage over the Telmar-Calormen alliance, but we can't agree on which way is the best."

"So what you're trying to say is that you need a plan that involves someone getting information from the inside of the Telmarine palace?" I stated, "like a spy?"

"That's what I suggested," King Lune said before Peter could begin to speak, "but King Peter says it's too much of a risk to put someone behind the enemy lines."

"Well that's easy to solve then," I said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world, "send me. I know the Telmarine palace, I've been there before. Problem solved."

"But it's not that easy Rachel," Peter interjected, "you're too recognisable. We've only just got you back. No, not you," he said firmly and quickly.

"But Peter, can you think of anyone else who can do this? I've spied on the king and Tisroc before," I argued.

"Wait, what are you talking about?" King Lune said confusedly.

Sugar lumps, I forgot to keep my mouth shut on all of that stuff I'd experienced when I was Storm. I looked towards Peter worriedly, not sure how I was going to climb back out of the hole I'd just dug myself. I bit my lip anxiously.

"She stayed in the Telmarine palace a few years ago. I'm sure that when she says 'spy' she doesn't mean it in the way you and I think it means, isn't that right Rach?" he said calmly. He looked at me intently, and his eyes were saying to me 'play along.'

"Yeah I did," I started, my voice slightly shaky, "I got bored one day I was there and started to sneak around some of the hidden passages. I 'spied' on a couple of people that day."

King Lune eyed me suspiciously for a moment before he went back to looking at the notes on the table. My mind travelled back to what we were talking about before, "Pete, you've got to let me go."

"No, Rachel!" he said with his voice raised, "you're far too important for this. We need you here."

My eyes darted around the Hall in mild frustration, "So what? Who are you to say that one life is more important than another?"

"Rachel," Pete said firmly, his blue eyes blazing into my hazel ones, "please don't argue with me over this. Please try to understand why I'm telling you not to go."

"But…" I started feebly, attempting to fight back before sighing in defeat. He was right. I was too recognisable and I could jeopardise this whole plan if one single thing went wrong. This planning beforehand could give us the upper hand if worst comes to worst.

"Thank-you," Peter said with a small smile.

"Right then, now we need to find someone who's as brave and stupid as I am," I said.

Peter chuckled lightly, "I could travel the whole world and not find someone who has your courage and stupidity Rach."

"I'm not sure if I should take that as a compliment or not."

* * *

><p>As soon as we left the Great Hall, my life for the coming days quickened dramatically. People welcomed me back and bombarded me with questions and I went to bed each night completely shattered. I was flattered to see that so many people cared about me and were happy to see me back at Cair, but that didn't mean that it made the whole experience any less draining. There was a small tour that the four of us took around Narnia to show the population that the rumours were indeed true. Thankfully, the carriage was large so I could avoid Ed in anyway possible.<p>

When the tour was over, I'd made one of the shortest speeches ever to the Narnian people. I'd reluctantly been dressed up for the occasion in a shimmery gold dress and long elbow-length gloves, with my newly-cleaned crown on my head.

I hated every second of it.

Susan was away in the Lone Islands making a routine check-up on all those who resided on the small cluster of landmasses and had left two days before I came back. It had now been a week since I had returned, so she was due back any day now.

The two people missing were Seb and Juel, my two best friends. I hadn't seen them since I'd left over two years ago, so I was excited yet anxious to see them.

Nothing could of prepared me for the afternoon I was about to have.

I was walking around the gardens of Cair, located to the back of the palace on a gently sloping hillside. It was a maze-like, with ten-foot-high walls surrounding you on all sides, enclosing an area of land that's roughly around a kilometre in width and length. The walls were the same as the one surrounding the palace's courtyard, but twice as small and made of the same creamy rock type.

It was a beautiful place. Many of the plants had only been brought to Cair after our coronation, but there were still some beautiful flowers that grew there naturally, and several large twisting trees dotted randomly throughout the garden. It was easy to get lost in this garden, but it was a place where I could always go and take a breather, to clear my head. It was the definition of peace.

Some humming birds flitted past me, on their quest to find the best nectar from the vast array of beautifully coloured plants that lay in the paradise of flowers. Blue tulips, yellow hyacinths, pink carnations, purple delphiniums, and my favourite, a flower that can only be found close to the Caldron Pool, were Calling blossoms. They're small and have white-blue coloured petals with red and green stems, and the petals were arranged to form a trumpet-like shape, hence the name, Calling blossoms. And I'm not just saying that they're my favourite flowers because I'm bias (Princess Rachel of the Caldron Pool, remember?) They're truly stunning flowers. I always had a bouquet of them in my room before I left because I loved their perfume. I'll have to gather some and put them in my room later.

I reached up to a branch and gently held one of the velvet-like leaves in my hand, before slowly trailing my palm away from it. All kinds of wonderful creatures were flitting about the garden, and they provided the garden with a soothing soundtrack.

"It's you," a voice said from behind me. I must have been so distracted by the garden that I mustn't have heard someone approaching me, which is something I rarely do. I never let my guard down, which is something I learnt during my stay on the Creciente, and it turns out to be a very useful skill. Except now, because I'm stupid and got distracted. Darn you, hummingbirds.

I turned around to see Seb, wearing a small grin which only got wider as she saw my face.

"Seb?" I asked. She looked a lot different to the last time I saw her, but her appearance changed to the one I was familiar with.

You see, Seb was once a mermaid along with her friend Juel. Juel had been told by her boyfriend at the time, a Minotaur in the White Witch's army, to kill me using a knife made out of Zunarii stone, a rare and deadly type of stone which, if injured by, could kill you in minutes. Both of them had accidentally been injured by this knife and in the end, to prevent them from dying, Aslan had turned them into human-like creatures: half human, half mermaid, a weird yet wonderful mixture.

Oh, and they also possess magical powers, one of which I'm being subject to now; the ability to change their appearance at will.

"Rachel!" she exclaimed, sprinting to close the short gap between us and wrapping me up in a bone-crushing hug.

"Oh my days Seb," I strained to say, "if you're trying to squish me to death, you're doing a heck of a good job of it."

"Oh, sorry," she apologised releasing me as I took in several deep breaths. Oh oxygen, sweet, sweet oxygen, how I will never take you for granted again!

"But it's great to see you as well Seb! I've missed you a lot," I said with a wide smile on my face.

"As have I."

"So how have you been? What's been happening while I've been away? And how's Juel?" I asked her quickly. The smile on her face vanished completely. "Seb? Are you alright?"

I could visibly see her trying to hold herself together, "I'm fine," she whispered, "but there's something you should know about Juel."

"What is it?" I inquired, putting my arm around her shoulders. Despite my initial hugs from Pete and Lu when I got back, I've shied away from contact with people. It wasn't as if I hated being hugged because believe me, I love a good hug, but after being on a ship for two years with only one other female on board, I haven't exactly had a lot of physical contact with people, and comforting people like Seb at the minute is a foreign concept to me. I just don't know how to deal with people who are in need of comfort much anymore, that's all.

"Juel's left us, Rachel," she said to me in a quiet voice.

"What? Why?"

"She just…hated being here. She was sick and tired of the palace and didn't want to be confined here anymore, so one day she just got up and left."

"Really? Did she say where she was going?" I questioned her. She merely shook her head. I awkwardly put my head on top of hers and just kept my hand on her shoulder until she sniffed one last time and separated herself from me, wiping her nose as she went.

"She asked me to go with her, you know," she said, "I was going to, but then I thought about why I was really here in Cair. I was here to help this palace function and I knew deep down that you would come back one day. I knew that my place was here. Of course, I explained that to her but…she just didn't understand. We got into a huge argument and then she just left in the middle of it. I've never regretted something so much in my life. I just wish I could go back in time and make sure that we never argued, or I could just see her once more and apologise for the whole fight. And now I'm worried that I'll never see her again!" A sole tear fell from her eyes and hit the grass beneath our feet, and I knew she just needed a moment to compose herself.

"How long ago did she leave?" I asked her after a few minutes.

"About nine months ago. No-one's seen her since."

"Oh Seb, I'm so sorry."

Seb laughed a small, almost cruel laugh, "What have you got to be sorry for? You weren't here to stop her from going."

"I know, I know." That's all I said, I didn't want to continue to press the issue because it clearly upset Seb greatly.

"Come on, let's just go inside. "

* * *

><p>Once Seb had calmed down, she informed me on everything I needed to know and in particular, the Pevensies. Seb had seen them change after I'd left, and whilst Lucy and Peter hadn't changed that much (if not at all) the two middle children had changed quite a bit. Edmund had changed the most out of all of them, but Susan hadn't changed as much as I originally thought. From what I'd been hearing from Lu was that she'd changed as much as Ed had which frightened me, but she hadn't changed as drastically according to Seb.<p>

Susan had been hanging around a lot of the upper-class ladies from the other countries, and due to this exposure she'd become more conscious of how she looked and what she talked about. Originally I thought this would have made her shallow and gossipy, but in reality she hadn't become like this. Seb said that she hadn't changed that much since I left apart from the fact that she took longer to get ready each day and the subjects she talked about sometimes were quite pointless and boring, which made me feel a little bit less nervous than I was before about seeing Su again.

We'd been in the kitchens for about an hour talking about things and eating whatever we could find, and I couldn't help but notice that Seb just wasn't herself. She was still Seb: caring, funny, beautiful Seb, but she seemed a little bit down. Her smiles weren't as wide as I remembered him, and her voice was heavy, like it was being weighed down, like she was being weighed down. She wasn't as happy now as she was before I left which led me to think; just how many people have been affected by my disappearance?

Sure, I was told by Aslan that I had to go and yes, I had prevented Narnia and Archenland from a surprise invasion, but did my reasons excuse the fact that I'd hurt more people than I'd like to know? If it had been Lucy, I would have been hurt and confused like so many people had been about me. I understood why people were hurt, but did my disappearance mean that they had to change? Were they so hurt they'd had to change? Or was it the catalyst that kick-started the change in their personality? As I took a bite out of my muffin, an overwhelming sense of guilt overcame me and my stomach felt strange. All of a sudden I wasn't hungry anymore, so I threw the muffin in a bin.

I've never felt as bad about myself in my life.

Well, there was one other time. It was when I was Storm Everheart and I was being taken by Narnian forces. A man called Geraldo jumped in after me to try and save me, but now…now he's dead. The Narnians murdered him-threw a spear or something at him-and I can only assume he's dead now. It wasn't my fault that he's dead because technically it was him who jumped in after me (I didn't make him do that) and the Narnians threw the spear at him, not me.

Or at least, that's what I kept telling myself. I've had just over two months to recover from his death which unfortunately isn't long enough for me to recover fully. Each day he leaves my mind and I rarely think about him as I've done my best to push him into a corner of my mind and try to close the door on him, but the door keeps forcing itself open, particularly at night. I dream of Geraldo often, because he wasn't just a fellow pirate or even a friend, but my-

"Rachel? Are you alright?" Seb asked me, "you've been staring into space for a while now."

"Hmm?" I said, snapping back into reality. I shook my head slightly because my mind was still clouded with memories of Geraldo, shaking it more violently to rid my brain of him.

Seb looked at me with wide eyes after I'd stopped shaking my head, "I asked if you were alright."

"Me?" I said with my voice slightly higher than I intended it to be, "yep! Sure. Fit as a fiddle!"

Seb continued to look at me with wide eyes as she ate her chocolate cake.

* * *

><p>After a rather shaky start to my reunion with Seb, things eventually levelled out and things slowly went back to normal as the day progressed. We spent the whole day just talking over everything and hanging out like we used to, and before sunset we went for a swim in the cool waters of the Eastern Ocean. After a while Seb left because she was tired so I stayed in the water for a while. The ocean was very calm today, so the only waves that broke on the beach were small ones, and the sound of the water relaxed me greatly. I loved the ocean; I left at home in the salty water. I'm quite jealous of merpeople because they get to spend their entire lives just swimming about in the ocean and I've often dreamed of becoming a mermaid myself. Life would be so much easier if I was a mermaid.<p>

It wasn't just the water within the ocean, but what it represented. It represented freedom and nature, and the beauty of it when it was both calm and ferocious. I feared the ocean, but I respected it at the same time; my time on the Creciente only increased these feelings.

I lay on my back, staring up at the sky that was now being set on fire by the setting sun. This is where I belonged, surrounded by the beauties that nature could only provide me. I moved my hands slightly in the clear water as my hair, tied up in a ponytail, floated above my head. Fish swam around me and I could feel myself relaxing until some water splashed in my face. My eyes shot open before I closed them again as they stung from the salt water, and when they'd stopped stinging I saw a dark-haired figure standing next to me with his arms crossed and the water up to his elbows.

"Do you mind?" I asked through gritted teeth. I'd been the most relaxed I've been since I returned, and now he was making me tense again. My feet touched the sea bed as I stood up and the water was lapping around my neck.

The corner of Edmund's lips curved slightly, "No, I babysit," he replied.

"Smartass," I mumbled under my breath, "so why did you put water in my face you immature child?"

"To annoy you."

"You're doing a pretty good job of that just by breathing," I mumbled under my breath again.

"You know it's rude to mumble," Edmund said as he went into deeper waters.

My arm moved of its own accord and water flew into Edmund's face, "Well then how do you like being splashed?" I snapped at him.

"I find it quite refreshing actually," he said as he floated on his back and kicked against the water, causing more seawater to fly towards me. I wasn't in the mood for this immature behaviour, especially with the person who dislikes me the most right now.

"You are so childish!" I exclaimed, pushing more water towards him, "you know what? I don't have time for this! I'm going away to have a conversation with someone who hasn't ignored me since I got back! Yeah, you see that Edmund? This is what you get for being all weird with me and hating me and…and….stuff!" Yep, great way to end that Rachel. Thank-you words for failing me now when I need you the most.

Edmund merely laughed. I suppressed a growl of annoyance of him so I turned away from him and swam away quickly and I was out of the water in under a minute.

"Hey Elfin!" Edmund called to me from the water.

"What!" I yelled, turning around slightly to face him.

"I don't hate you!"

To say I was surprised was a slight understatement. He didn't…hate me? Well then why was the eejit acting the way he was? Seriously, it was confusing and I felt like a dog chasing its tail. If he didn't hate me then why was he ignoring me? When I told them of the secret war, why was he so rude to me? If he didn't hate me then why didn't he even say 'hello' to me when I came back?

Oh, that boy is so confusing.

My brain was working so hard that it took me a while to think of a retort. I knew I couldn't say that I didn't hate him either, because I didn't hate him (I think) so I just had to find something to say to him. After a few seconds I blurted out the first thing that came to mind, "Are you honestly resorting to calling me by my last name? You're more immature than I thought."

"Really? Because I remember you calling me Pevensie on more than one occasion," he shouted back at me.

"That was a long time ago!" I yelled but somehow there was a smile on my face. Why was I smiling? What the heck…? "Now stay in the water. I want you to get a cold, Pevensie."

"Will do."

I quickly walked across the beach and up the stairs to Cair. My legs were burning by the time I reached the top, but I couldn't resist a look back down at the beach. The sky was beginning to darken, but I could still see that idiot in the ocean.

I shook my head. What an eejit.

* * *

><p>The next morning I was woken by three long trumpet blows. I raised my head to inquire what the noise indicated, before I flopped back down on my bed. I am <em>not<em> a morning person-never have been, never will be. My room was dimly lit by the sun that was desperately trying to get through the clouds and I closed my eyes once more, attempting to get back to sleep.

"Rachie!"

Oh Aslan please, please spare me for five more minutes.

"Rachie wake up!"

Pretty please?

"Susan's back!"

I shot straight up in bed. Yep, that woke me up right and quick!

"_Crap_…" I dragged out as I rolled over my bed and fell out of it. Epitome of grace, that's me. I picked myself up and picked out a dress (unfortunately) and ran into the bathroom for a quick shower. Since I'd come back I'd had to wear dresses more than I could wear the clothes I was comfortable in, which is a shirt, leggings and boots. Sure, it wasn't exactly the most fashionable of things, but I preferred wearing that to wearing a dress any day of the week. Besides, when have I ever been fashionable? It was all too confusing for me anyway.

I rushed out of the bathroom and put my shoes on as Lucy did my hair in a secure French plait.

"Ready?" she asked me, knowing my worries about seeing Su.

"As I'll ever be."

We exited my room and within minutes we were at the front of Cair, waiting for Su just outside of the gate. We were joined by Peter and Eejit as I now called him, or Pevensie to his face. I still felt a little bit weird over what had happened yesterday, so I was slightly confused and wary of him.

One more loud trumpet blow went out just as Susan came to the top of the stairs leading from the beach, flanked by two men. She was wearing some sort of funny feathered hat and quite a large dress that was tight at the bodice before widening considerably. Her face was done up with make-up and she bowed politely at a servant faun.

"Su!" Lucy cried as she rushed forward to greet her sister.

"Ah!" Susan said with her index finger held up, stopping Lucy in her tracks. Susan curtseyed to her sister and Lucy mirrored this motion before hugging her sister tightly. I thought this was_ slightly_ odd.

"Su, we've missed you so much," Peter said, kissing her cheek and hugging her.

"I've missed you all as well," Susan said, her voice sounding more posh than I remembered it, "Ed."

"Su."

"Oh Su, you won't believe what has happened while you were away!" Lucy said, dragging her sister by the wrist.

"Yes I heard the news. Now where is she?" Su said, her eyes looking for me.

"Here," I said quietly, my stomach doing small backflips.

"Rachel," she said, curtsying to me. I did the same thing, but it just looked clumsy compared to Su's elegant one.

"Su," I said. This wasn't the Su I remembered. Su was happy and, while sensible, knew how to have fun. If Su had come back from a trip away, she would have greeted us with great enthusiasm as if she hadn't seen us for years. Now, she couldn't seem less bothered.

Su kissed both of my cheeks and pulled me into a hug, which surprised me slightly. This greeting was different to her old one…it was one I'd seen people in Telmar (especially those of a higher class) greet each other. It must be a fashion thing. I rolled my eyes slightly.

"It's great to have you back," Su said, smiling at me. I grin half-heartedly back at her. Su just lacked any sort of enthusiasm and had become…more grown up? More mature? I couldn't put my finger on one thing, but she wasn't acting her age-she was acting like someone ten years old than her.

We returned to Cair and as soon as the last servant was out of ear shot Su said, "There's something I'm confused about though. How did you come back? You were dead, but now you're here? That's just not possible. I assume everybody else knows the story, so tell me now."

I looked around Su's siblings and they had puzzled expressions on their faces. It didn't take Su long to figure it out, "What? You don't know?" Su asked and they all shook their heads. Su laughed a high pitched laugh that made me feel slightly uncomfortable, "you've had over a week to ask her this…and you haven't? That's brilliant. If I'd been here it would've been the first question I asked her!"

Lucy, Edmund and Peter all looked baffled, "How could we have been so stupid?" Edmund said with a cold laugh.

"Beats me," I replied.

"So Rachel, how did you survive?" Peter asks me.

My eyebrows furrow in confusion, "I don't know. I honestly don't know."

"What? What do you mean you don't know?" Susan asked me.

"I just…don't. But I'm assuming it's something to do with the fever I had when I got here. Other than that, i don't know," I answered truthfully with a slight shrug of my shoulders.

"Well we've got you back, that's all that matters," Lucy said, coming over to stand beside me, "now if you'll excuse us, we've got some training to do."

"Oh, training. Woopdeedoo," I replied as Lucy pulled me away from the other three siblings.

"Are you sure that's her?" I heard Susan ask her brothers quietly.

"One-hundred and ten percent sure," Edmund replied, "there's no doubt that she's Rachel."

"Hmm." The noise came from Susan.

Oh ye of little faith. There's only one Rachel Elfin, and she's here to stay.

* * *

><p>Training was normal. An hour of practising with my sword, half an hour of working with my daggers, another half an hour of hand-to-hand combat, and to finish off an hour of improving my overall fitness (running, sit-ups, press-ups, weightlifting, you know the drill). To say I was exhausted was a great understatement. I'd been training from two o'clock in the afternoon and I'd only stopped five minutes ago, dragging myself towards the castle. The sun was still high in the sky since it was the middle of May and the warm temperature caused me to sweat excessively under my light armour, and my hair was sticking to my head.<p>

I knew that we had to train like the rest of the soldiers to start making our bodies ready for war once more, but it bothered me that only a select few of us knew about the secret war and the rest were oblivious to this crucial fact. I knew we'd have to let them know some time, but how? Letting them know would either discourage the Telmarines and Calormenes from trying to fight us, but then again it could prompt them to attack us when we weren't fully prepared. They also had numbers larger than us, so to let our own army and the army of Archenland know this fact…it was too high a risk. The news would have reached Calormen or Telmar within the day, and then were would we be? Defenceless is my bet. So this preparation is essential to ensure the fact that everyone is fully prepared for this battle.

I hadn't seen Lucy since I had been training with my daggers, so I assumed she was back at Cair. To my misfortune, I'd accidentally left my sword (Nitidae) with the faun and dwarf I had stayed with before I came back to Cair. I'd done this to prevent suspicion rising from people making a link between Storm Everheart's death and my reappearance. They'd been good to me, and had taught me to control my temper and had told me which way I should act around the Pevensies, since my 'pirate' mannerisms wouldn't be acceptable in Cair, so they'd combed them out of me bit by bit and made me who I was now. I needed Nitidae, so I was going into the Western Wood within the week to get her back so I didn't have to train with an unfamiliar sword.

I was almost inside the walls of Cair when I heard someone calling my name. I turned around to see Peter jogging towards me, his shaggy blond hair bouncing up and down on his head. I'll have to suggest to him to get a hair cut, but it was the style for guys to have long hair and to be honest it suited him quite well.

"Walk with me?" he asked me, offering his arm. I looked towards the castle longingly, thinking of the warm bath that awaited me and my warm, comfy bed, but I pushed all that aside and accepted his offer, declining his arm at first. He insisted for me to take it, so I gingerly linked my arm through his.

"So, judging by how you look I take it that you've just come back from training?" Peter said with a small smile. I glared at him and he laughed.

"I'm exhausted," I replied.

"I can see that, so I won't keep you for long," Peter said as we walked away from the castle's gates, "I'm just here to ask you if you would be still be willing to help me out the same way you did before you left, like you did the other day when you first came back? I've really missed your advice and your input-especially in war meetings."

"Really? I just thought my input annoyed Oreius…" I smiled devilishly, "so now I'll be talking even more in these meetings to see how red his face goes from being angry. I've really missed that."

Peter laughed loudly, "So that's a yes?"

"No. It's a _heck_ yes," I say with a smile on my face.

Peter picked me up and spun me around unexpectedly which caused me to giggle. Giggling, Something I haven't done in a while. It sounded weird coming from my mouth, but it was a good weird.

"Thank goodness!" he said as he out me back down on the ground, "I thought for a split second that you'd say no and I'd be stuck with Ed or someone else."

"Now that would've been awful," I say with a small smile on my face, "and what's all this hugging-and-spinning-me –around malarkey about? Seriously, it makes me dizzy."

"I don't know, I just do it. It's fun," he replies.

"Fun? What can be fun about lifting something that's heavy and spinning it around? That's not my definition of 'fun'"

Peter just chuckled, "Sorry, I'm just really glad that you've agreed to help me out. Thank-you," he says, wrapping his arms around me. I stiffen slightly at the contact, before I put my arms around his torso lightly.

"No problem," I reply.

That's when a fist contacts with my face.

I stumble backwards at from the force of the blow before anger surges through me. I look up, the place where the fist hit me aching. Blood runs in a small stream from my cheekbone to my chin and drips off the end of it, and my teeth clench together as my face warps into one of animalistic quality-almost lion-like.

"Petey!" a voice screeches. The voice sounds oddly familiar, and a platinum-blonde figure is squeezing the life out of the eldest Pevensie.

"Get away from him!" I yell, bringing my own fist back and thrusting it forward it in a quick, powerful punch. I believed this person to be an enemy, so when my fist connects with their nose, the crack resounding from it is extremely satisfying.

The figure stumbles back holding their face, blood seeping through her fingers, "What the heck was that for?" the figure cries, their voice slightly muffled by their hands. This person is female.

"What the heck are _you_ doing?" I shouted back at her, my anger still very present.

"I'm hugging my boyfriend after you had your filthy claws all over him! What are you trying to do, take him for yourself?" the female retorts.

I laugh a cold laugh, words forming quickly in my mouth in a response ready to fly from my lips before Peter stands in between us.

"Stop it, both of you!" he shouts, "Rachel, this is Alexis, my-"

"Girlfriend," 'Alexis' interrupts, lowering her hands from her face, blood smeared across it and her hands.

The word makes my blood run cold. Girl…friend? Peter has seriously fallen for a blonde bimbo?

Oh Aslan help us all. And my fists, to stop from connecting with her nose every time it heals.

* * *

><p><strong>AN Reviewww! Again, sorry for the late update. Better late than never, right? I further apologise for late updates in the future, so if you're reading this and I haven't updated for ages, go right ahead and tell me to get writing again…it may just be the thing I need to get this story kick started once more. Once again, thank-you for your support, and review.**

**Xx Elemental Angel xX**


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